


Return of the Queen

by silenthuntress72



Series: Insecticon Queen [1]
Category: Transformers Generation One, Transformers: Beast Wars, Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Rescue Bots, Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)
Genre: Cannibalism, Eggpreg, F/F, F/M, Insecticons - Freeform, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, Murder, Oviposition, Protective Hive, Romance, Royalty, Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Transformer Sparklings, hivemind - Freeform, stealing eggs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:14:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 41,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26944984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silenthuntress72/pseuds/silenthuntress72
Summary: The Insecticons on Earth, the ones that have been under Arachnid's leadership, had finally caught wind of their hive's missing queen. Once she
Relationships: OC/Bombshell, OC/Insecticons, OC/Megatron, OC/OC, OC/Optimus Prime, OC/Ratchet, OC/Shrapnel
Series: Insecticon Queen [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1966213
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fritillary is my character, I will let you know if I bring in anymore OCs along with warnings

Chapter 1

They could feel her, the bond with her had weakened from the lack of being with her, but they could feel their queen. She had been in stasis for millions of years since she crash landed on the planet, and she awakened inside her pod when the first Insecticon landed on Earth. The hive queen waited patiently for her body to finish rebuilding itself from the ground up. For now, though her trusted guards worked in secret with their brethren to make sure neither Autobots nor Decepticons discovered their queen's chrysalis deep inside an undiscovered energon mine. She was getting close to emerging, but it was going to take a while to adjust to her new body.

_Do not fret, I will return soon, and we can rebuild our hive. This Arachnid will learn to never take a hive from a true queen. Bombshell, bring me one from both sides. We'll use them as our optics to ensure they don’t find the hive._ She wasn’t a malicious femme, but when one of her Insecticons was killed, she felt it despite the weak bond. A large beetle that had yellow stripes running along his sides, signifying that he was different from his brothers, bowed and took off through one of the many tunnels that they had dug out. A grasshopper that had yellow stripes on all six legs transformed and started crawling onto the chrysalis with his mandibles rubbing against each other. A thick substance started dripping from his mouth and down the side of the pod. They had been donating most of their energon reserves to ensure their queen was getting the proper fuel to regenerate her frame.

There were a total of four mechs that had the yellow stripes and they were entrusted to protect the queen and the eggs before they hatched and were taken by the guardians. The hive pretended to continue following Arachnid and Megatron during the day, but once all of the Decepticons went into stasis the rest of the hive would take materials and unrefined energon crystals back to the nest. The Insecticons would continue this until they saw her optics piercing through the thick oily membrane.

Bombshell and his clutch mates were flying around the nearby town and ate away at the buildings and various metal objects until their reserves were full to capacity. Once full they returned to the hive and prepared making the queen's chamber. “Shrapnel-nel tend to, to queen.” The beetle stopped his reinforcing the cave walls with the metal. The other beetle hissed as he regurgitated a small mound of metal and concrete.

He crawled through one of the tunnels and started gently prodding the sticky sac with his pincers, being careful not to puncture it. “Hive wants queen, queen.”

_I will be ready soon; I can feel it. And then I will reclaim my hive and those that the spider is holding in her clutches. Has Bombshell found me what I have asked for?_ Her elegant voice pierced into the stag beetle's processor while he crawled all over the sac. Shrapnel clicked his mandibles together and he felt the smallest of movement in the chrysalis. _This Bumblebee and Dreadwing will see to it that neither side discover the nest._

“Very good my queen, queen. Kickback and Sharpshot prepare oil bath, bath. Hardshell is still prisoner, prisoner. Only one pod bearer.” Shrapnel knew this loss would hurt the hive until they rescued their hive mate. The other pod bearers were killed from the fights. By their nature, pod bearers never left the queen's side unless it was to refill their reserves. There were usually four pod bearers per hive, but thanks to the war between Autobots and Decepticons there was only one until a clutch hopefully produced more.

_Then he will be our top priority. Have the Decepticon give him a message._ She ordered. The hive knew, felt, and could even smell the difference between their true queen and the fake one. The only reason the Insecticons listened to Arachnid was because she falsely promised them to help find the rest of their hive as well as their queen. It wasn’t until Hardshell spoke through the hive mind and informed them of the pods he had forming on the inside a hidden compartment in his chest plate.

On the other side of town, at the Autobot base, the kids were sleeping over since it was summer break. Raf was talking with Bumblebee and Smokescreen before he saw Ratchet and Optimus’s chest glow a soft pink. “Optimus, you're glowing.” The younger boy pointed at the Prime, and without being informed the medic looked at his own chest. Both of the mechs locked optics with worry.

“Seeing that look on Optimus is worrying enough, but on you Doc you would think Unicron destroyed the Well.” Wheeljack jokingly said, but the old medic returned to glaring at the mech.

“No, this is much worse. Optimus, you don’t think it's really her, do you? You know that if we know so does Megatron. And then Arachnid isn’t just going to hand over the Insecticons.” Ratchet focused all of his attention on the red and blue mech.

Optimus nodded as he retracted his chest plate and pulled out a small pink shard. “If it really is Fritillary, then that would explain the lack of Insecticon attacks. Rafael will you please check for any strange news that's been happening?”

The boy nodded and pulled out his laptop and started rapidly typing away before getting hits. “Uh it looks like you won't be working for a while Jack.” He turned the computer around to show a post from social media of Jack's work. Half the building was missing along with every light pole in the vicinity.

“What would Megatron or Arachnid want with a grease joint?” Arcee crossed her arms while silently thanking Primus that she wouldn’t have to go back there for a long while.

“It's not either of them that ordered this. This belonged… belongs to an old friend of mine, Ratchet, and Megatron long before the war. She gave us each a piece to allow us access inside her hive without being at risk of being attacked by the Insecticons. Her name is Fritillary and she is an Insecticon queen.” Optimus explained just before Ratchet pulled up an old holovid that he still kept of the old times.

_There were Insecticons everywhere, they were all lumbering around but there were some that looked like the Insecticons they've fought while others didn’t look familiar at all. There was Ratchet, Orion Pax, and Megatronus walking up to a petite femme that was Megatronus's height. She was a lavender and blue femme with a pair of small wings that fluttered behind her. Three Insecticons stepped in front of her and the entire hive started rubbing their mandibles and wings together._

_“Stop it, I have called them here. They are friends, not food. My apologies my friends, you know how they are. Bombshell, bring me gift please.” She ordered with her small wings fluttering behind her. A large rhinoceros beetle transformed before walking out of the throne room. The femme hugged each of the mechs. “The hive thanks you for helping us keep those hunters away while we moved the pods.”_

_“We are glad to have helped Fritillary. They won’t eat us will they?” Ratchet looked at the various Insecticons that were crawling all over the ceiling. As much as he cared about his unique friend, he didn’t feel entirely safe with thousands of creatures looking at him like energon._

_Fritillary laughed behind her servo with a shake of her helm. “Don’t be silly Ratchet, if I say you’re friends they won’t attack. I’m the future queen once I molt. Orion, you are quiet. Are you scared too? If you’d like, I can send them out.” She looked at the red mech with her small curved wings folded down her back and around her arms like a tail coat._

_“With you being the next queen, you’ll be too preoccupied to see any of us.” Orion sounded sad that he would be losing a friend because of her duty._

_Bombshell had returned with a pink crystal and handed it to Fritillary. He transformed and skittered over to the throne. There were three others that huddled close to the mech. “That's why I’m giving you this as a gift. I will be going into stasis for a long time because I have a big transformation to go through. When I am ready, this crystal will glow. Come to the hive and one of them will escort you to see me. You can come visit any time you wish.” The femme broke the geode into four equal pieces, giving three to each of the mechs and then placed the piece she kept on the top of her chest plate where the curves of her chest met._

Ratchet and Optimus looked at the others and saw the dumbfounded looks everyone had. Bulkhead spoke first, “well it… she doesn’t have any control of her pets cause they just _ate_ half of Jasper! We need to burn down this hive before we have an infestation.”

“No, we need to find where the hive is at and then-" Ratchet was interrupted by Bumblebee shooting the terminal. They all jumped back with shouts while the scout looked around in genuine confusion. “Bumblebee!?”

He beeped and scratched his helm. _What happened?_ Bumblebee looked at them with his wings twitching in confusion. The yellow scout had moved his servo down to his neck before it caught onto something. He beeped in a panic and Ratchet examined the area. The old medic pulled a black disc that had planted itself just above Bumblebee's protoform. Ratchet showed it to Optimus and that only got the scout to panic even more. _What is that!?_

“Calm down kid, it just confirms our suspicion. It's called a cerebro-shell, it causes a form of mind control. And there is only one mech I know that makes these. His name is Bombshell, a vicious warrior, and just as viciously loyal to Fritillary as Soundwave is loyal to Megatron. But what would he want with Bumblebee?” Ratchet looked at the shell that simply broke in his servo.

“When we find her, we'll ask. I just hope that Megatron hasn't found out about her.” Optimus worried for his friend when she found out about the state of their old friend.

Megatron was summoned by Soundwave which annoyed him, but he caught sight of an Insecticon hitting its helm against a wall with short breaks in between each hit to rub its mandibles. He paid no mind to it until it gave out its war cry and put a large hole in his ship. “What are you doing you idiot!?”

The Insecticon had broken itself into a storage closet, ignoring the warlord as it started lifting each individual item in the air before determining if it was worthy or not. If it was worthy, it was eaten. If it wasn’t, then over its shoulder it went. “Hive. Hive. Hive. Return to the hive!” The hulking figure gave out another cry.

“The hive? You know where that infernal spider is at?” Megatron tried asking, but the Insecticon continued eating or throwing everything before doing the same thing to another wall. “Soundwave! Get over now!”

There was no response, but Soundwave had heard his master and made his way to Megatron. He saw Megatron throw an arm at the Insecticon that was eating away at the wall. The masked mech silently touched the back of the creature’s helm and was only in the mind briefly before being thrown out. He had never been thrown out of someone’s processor before, but it was like he just dived into several hundred minds at once. _I can’t look Lord Megatron. It is like there is a hive mind. What I was able to get, was the queen returning and rescuing someone from Arachnid._

“Return of the queen? Soundwave, release this thing and follow it to Arachnid. And then meet me at deck.” Megatron ordered before heading to the helm front of the Nemesis. There was only a moment of silence before the cries of the Insecticon tore through the sky, then it took off with Laserbeak right behind it. Soundwave entered the room there shortly after the two fliers were out of sight. “Make sure he doesn’t lose it.”

“Uh, excuse me Lord Megatron. The creature left this in storage.” A Vehicon bravely interrupted the officers. He held up a pink shard that was glowing brightly in his servo. “Want me to toss-"

“No, but I believe I know who this new Insecticon queen is. Looks like I should get ready to meet royalty.” Megatron grinned and took the small geode as he walked past the Vehicon. _My plans are all coming together now._

It was late at night when Megatron’s comlink was attacked by pings from Soundwave. He sat up with a loud shout. ::What Soundwave!?::

_The Insecticon has led Laserbeak to an underground cave._ Soundwave informed his leader when he finally got a response. When the telepath didn’t get an answer, he knew that Megatron was on his way to the coordinates. Which he found odd that he didn’t send any Vehicons to find this nest, but he wouldn’t question the mech. He sent over the coordinates and it was only moments before Megatron was seen flying across the Nemesis.

Megatron was just arriving to the coordinates when he saw Laserbeak’s prone form sitting on small boulder that was facing a large hole that went down into the earth. The Decepticon transformed and saw a small swarm of Insecticons crawling out of the ground with urgency as they started pushing the exterior walls higher. Once the walls were high enough, they reinforced it by regurgitated metal.

A giant grasshopper jumped out of the hole and transformed. “Bring queen, queen food.” He transforms into his bipedal form, Megatron recognized him quickly and he grinned darkly. The tyrant stepped closer, triggering all of the Insecticons were quick to get defensive. “Not Insecticon.”

“No, but I am an old friend of Fritillary. We had seen each other a very long time ago, though I have changed since then.” Megatron pulled out his piece of the pink crystal. Kickback looked at the item before releasing a receptor piercing trilling sound. The sound drew out the rest of Kickback's clutch mates. “Ah, Bombshell what a… pleasure to see you again.” _Scrap, have to be careful of him._

“Feelings not-not mutual-tual. State business fast-fast.” Bombshell transformed, standing just a bit shorter than the warlord, but Megatron knew that this mech made up for his lack of size in smarts. The mech showed the crystal to the mechs once again and the Insecticons all started rubbing their mandibles together. Bombshell stepped closer to the warlord and his antennae touching his face and then the crystal. He sniffed the Decepticon before stepping back to transform. “Suitable. Queen-Queen will use.”

Megatron growled at the cryptic message. “Suitable for what insect?”

“For Queen-Queen.” Shrapnel answered before crawling back inside the hole with the others crawling in after him. Bombshell and Kickback pushed Megatron towards the hole. The warlord didn’t know what his old friend would need from him. She had never mentioned needing anyone when she emerged from her transformation. “Queen-Queen copies base coding from outsider for hive eggs-eggs. Alt mode base coding change too-too.”

“Base coding? So, they will be Decepticons like me?” Megatron questioned as he hovered down until the tunnel straightened out, and it turned into a walk path. Once it opened up, he saw that the Insecticons were implanting lights that they stole from some human places. “The hive on Cybertron was above ground and out in the open.”

“Squishies would take eggs away-away. Safer underground.” Bombshell explained before transforming. “Not Decepticon-con. Flight frames or ground frames. All Insecticons fly, but flight frames sleek and fast-fast; ground frames bulky and stronger-stronger. You have crystal from Queen-Queen, sign she finds you suitable-able. Crystal sign to let suitable outsiders near Queen-Queen. Suitable outsiders breed with Queen-Queen before hive breeds.”

“I have a war to fight; I’m not staying in this place to frag my friend until she’s satisfied.” He crossed his arms with a growl. The Decepticon was glaring as he was taken to where he only assumed Fritillary would be at. When the tunnel opened up to reveal the giant cocoon suspending in the air by thick spidery mucus with the Insecticon that was released from his ship, crawling around the shell with his mandibles releasing a glob of green. It disgusted him, but he wondered why Arachnid didn’t allow this sort of treatment happen to her.

Behind the cocoon, there was a large slab of rock that was sculpted and layered with metal and soft looking organic plants. He assumed it was where his friend would recharge and interface with the rest of her brethren. The cocoon pulsed brightly and the Insecticons that were in the chambers hiding all stopped moving and started rubbing their mandibles and wings together.

“Queen says-says you will not have to stay-stay. We come get you-you when she is ready-ready.” Bombshell translated for the encased femme. The cocoon glowed even brighter and started twitching. “Queen close-close. Will emerge soon-soon, then we kill false queen!”

The four mechs gave out a loud war cry that got the others to join in. Megatron was impressed that his old friend didn’t even have to be physically involved to get her troops to prepare for battle. He looked forward to having one post gone, but he also knew that once Fritillary found he used her nest as warriors she would be beyond enraged.

_But I haven’t been killing them at the scale Optimus has been._ Megatron grinned and looked at Bombshell and Kickback. “I surely hope my dear friend isn’t planning on bringing our old friends Ratchet and Orion here also.”

The beetle looked at his queen’s pod and then at the Decepticon. “Why not-not?”

“They’ve been killing your kind since Orion became a Prime. The same people that led the first hunt we saved her from.” Megatron kept his tone in line and he saw the cocoon shaking more and the hive all growled with their wings shaking angrily. The silver mech noticed Shrapnel was climbing over the slick surface of the pod.

“Traitors!” Bombshell gave another war cry, getting several others riled up. Then silence when their attention went to their queen. The mech clicked his mandibles together slowly before bowing his helm. “Yes, my queen. Suitable outsider must leave-leave. Will get when queen is ready-ready.”

Megatron growled with a digit pointed at the Insecticon’s face. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“Hive knows what you’ve done to us. We _all_ know.” Bombshell hissed in the warlord’s face before transforming and crawled over to the chrysalis. Megatron growled and left the hive with a frown until he realized what this meant, and the frown turned into a grin. He just needed to plant a bit of evidence to turn their friend against Optimus and Ratchet. It was a good thing that he had a mech like Soundwave on his side.

When the outsider was gone, the hive returned to reinforcing the walls and tend to their queen’s pod. She felt how close to being rebuilt she was, and Fritillary was prepared to take back her throne. _Bombshell._

“Yes, my Queen, Queen?” The loyal Insecticon walked over with his mandibles clicking while his queen spoke. _Prepare the nest for battle against this fake queen._ When the order was made, Bombshell swiftly turned and released a high pitched screech that was soon joined by the others. The Insecticons all transformed and were getting riled up with even more screams and buzzing. Fritillary could feel and hear everything her hive was feeling, and it would be even stronger once she was released from her cocoon.

The Insecticons could feel how close their Queen was close to coming out, which meant they needed to rescue the rest of their brothers soon especially Hardshell. They were going to have to finish preparations on the nest, so off they went to find more metal for their nest, leaving their queen alone. It was a risky move, but it was necessary to get their new hive ready for them. Shrapnel and his clutch mates split their brothers up and scattered throughout the state to look for food. They were going to look for energon while out scavenging for materials.

Optimus was on a drive with Jack and Arcee, answering to Fowler’s frantic call about giant monsters eating the U.S base to the ground. While on their way to the base, Jack slowly look up and pointed up at the sky. “Uh… guys I found the bugs!” The Autobots slammed on their brakes, swerving off the road to see over fifteen Insecticons leaving the direction the Prime and warrior were heading. “What did they want with tanks?”

“I’m not sure they wanted tanks specifically Jack.” Optimus said as he spun around to catch up to the retreating Insecticons. Arcee followed after her leader before the semi-truck commed her. ::Arcee, go to the military base. There may be a chance some still remain.::

::Got it Prime.:: Arcee turned back around and sped off for their original destination. Optimus had hoped he could get a chance to speak with Fritillary before Megatron filled her processor with twisted thoughts.

The Prime followed the Insecticon all the way through the desert until he swerved to a stop when he came upon nearly thirty Insecticons all standing there. He transformed with the crystal in his servo, “I need to speak to Fritillary.” There was a loud scream from one of the Insecticons before Optimus was knocked forward by a harsh kick.

::Sending back up.:: Bulkhead said over the comlink before a ground bridge opened up with him and Wheeljack charging out. “Exterminators have arrived.”

Kickback transformed; his hind legs were forced in a slight angle with his hydraulics holding them in place. “Orion Pax, Pax broke trust, trust. Killed nest, nest.”

“I didn’t know they were a part of her nest. I still advocate for freedom for all sentient beings, and that includes Insecticons.” Optimus stood up and held his arm out to keep the two wreckers back. He watched the grasshopper twitch his helm with his mandibles rubbing together. “Let me speak with her.”

“Kickback will only allow medic. Medics do not murder, murder.” He pointed his digit at the Prime, showing his distrust for him. Kickback turned as he dropped into his preferred form. He crouched into position and cleared the small group of Insecticons that were still standing there. The grasshopper still didn’t trust any of the bipedals, but he trusted his queen’s decision in bringing different CNA into the nest and that was important.

The Insecticons transformed with some of them taking off in flight, leaving one behind with soft chittering and scurried ahead before turning around to chitter again. He was a scout and was smaller build than most in his nest. Wheeljack looked at the Insecticon and then the Prime with an uncomfortable gaze. “Uh Prime, I think buggy here wants us to follow?”

“No, he wants me to follow him. You two head back to base and send Ratchet to wherever he takes me.” Optimus ordered before following the Insecticon to wherever it was taking him. The Prime was quick to see where exactly he was being taken just from the large hill-like formation that was forming in the middle of the desert. “I thought Fritillary only wanted Ratchet to see her?”

The scout transformed and chittered, “queen wants you, you too.”

“What about Kickback? He did not want me seeing her.” Optimus watched the Insecticon climb up the hill and looked behind him one more time before flying inside the nest. The Prime cautiously jumped down through the bottom, landing at the bottom of the tunnel with a thud, onlining the Insecticons were tucked away in carved out holes. He put his servos up with the crystal in his servo; Optimus noted that the sight of the pink gem caused them to back away.

_Orion, you came. I was afraid that Kickback repelled you._ Optimus stopped walking when he heard an angelic voice in his helm. He looked around before hearing that same angelic chuckle in his processor. _Until I emerge from my cocoon, my nest is my way to speak to any who steps into my sanctuary. Is Ratchet going to be here soon? I would like to see him too._

“He’s on his way. I go by Optimus now. Did Megatron come to see you?” Optimus looked around at the five different paths. He thought it was smart to have so many tunnels to dissuade trespassers.

_He was the first to see me. I am aware of what you both have become. You both killed my nest! Why would you do that to my nest after what you did to help us!?_ Optimus felt her anger and saw the purple glow of optics all over the walls light up the darkness. The Prime shook his helm.

“I was not aware they were your nest Fritillary. I thought they were wild Insecticons that Arachnid ordered around for Megatron. You are still a dear friend to me; I promise by the Allspark that no more from your nest will be killed by my team.” Optimus looked around as he promised. There was silence and nothing moved until the swarm of Insecticons moved around until Bombshell stepped forward. The Prime took the hint and followed the mech.

“Don’t trust, trust Primes.” Bombshell hissed behind his mask.

Optimus looked down at him with his mask sliding open, “you trusted me before Bombshell.”

“Weren’t a Prime, Prime before.” He retorted before transforming into his beetle form.

The walk felt like it went on forever until it opened up to a large room with strategically placed lights from the city. They were held down by a green sticky substance all over the walls and ceiling. He saw the cocoon hanging from the ceiling with energon being pushed out from the bottom of it. The Prime went to help his friend out, but his hasty movement triggered the Insecticons to prepare to defend their queen. He stopped and gestured at the scene.

“Is she alright?”

“Queen, queen almost here. Will not be able to see, see her until queen is strong, strong.” Shrapnel explained as he gently touched the sac with his pinchers.

Kickback transformed and brought his face to the puddle that was puddling under what was currently his queen. “Very soon. Queen wants medic friend here.”

“Why can’t I hear her anymore?” The Prime asked while the chamber was soon filling up with more Insecticons.

“Queen no longer connected to nest, nest. Still hear through hive, hive.” Shrapnel explained to the Prime. He pointed to the berth and looked up at him, “you and medic sit there. Only hive near queen when hatched.”

Optimus nodded, understanding their desire to keep her safe. She was all they had left, and they were willing to die in order to see she was safe. He sat down, finding it oddly soft and decided it was best not to ask any questions. It was some time and from where he was sitting, he could see the cocoon moving more and looked like it was constricting on itself. The sea of Insecticons parted for the same scout to crawl over to the berth with Ratchet following behind him.

“Glad to see that you weren’t eaten.” Ratchet greeted his friend with a mocking undertone. “I can’t believe, all this time Fritillary has been here on Earth.” He looked over the crowd of Insecticons to see the chrysalis move more which got the Insecticons to all release cries as their wings start beating rhythmically against their backs. They watched how the hive continued to do this until Bombshell released a loud screech.

There was silence before the sound of a gushing sound along echoed in the chamber. Optimus and Ratchet both stood up with worry until the saw a pair of large almost translucent wings. The wings were different shades of purple, pink, and red and they were curled in on themselves. There was soft coughing from the crowd of Insecticons as the wings tried to move, but they were still weak. Bombshell transformed into his bipedal mode and gave out loud shriek which triggered the others from his clutch to give out the same cry. The two Autobots looked at each other with confusion on what was happening, but they risked to stand up to see their friend.

“Queen safe, safe. Wings need to dry, dry.” Shrapnel was concerned for her wings that were still malleable, and it didn’t help that they were made out of glass which made her more vulnerable to attacks. He wrapped one of his large servos around her slender dark orchid arm to help her onto her peds with his servos trying to encourage them to stiffen.

Optimus decided to just go and see his friend despite the glares and hisses the Insecticons were giving him. Kneeling on the ground was a goop covered Fritillary, her frame looked exactly as it did when Optimus last saw her except her wings had more pink added to their pattern. She also had a more cinched looking torso and her antennae were longer and curled at the tips. The femme was coughing up the same green goo that covered her frame. Ratchet noticed that Bombshell was fussing over her still wilted looking wings.

Fritillary started flapping her wings slowly to dry them off. Ratchet knelt down in front of her and pulled out a cleaning cloth and held it out in front of her. “You certainly know how to make an entrance.” She looked up with her optics looking up with the color filters activating to a bright green optics. Her mouth opened but there was only static, “easy Fritillary. You’re going to need your systems to recalibrate.”

Shrapnel clicked his mandibles as he crawled closer and tapped his horns against her arm. Fritillary hugged the beetle with a smile. Bombshell carefully tended to the wings while Shrapnel was cleaning up the remains of the cocoon. Fritillary finally reattempted to speak again, “it is… good to see you again… friends. I apologize for my nest; they are just protective of me.”

“Queen, Queen rest.” Bombshell suggested while Ratchet cleaned her face with the cleaning clothe. The Insecticon took her tiny servo in his large one and helped her onto her peds, she was still the same height as she was before the war broke out. She had Shrapnel on her other side helping her stabilize herself.

Fritillary looked up at her friends with a smile going on her face. “Hello Orion. You bloomed handsomely from the mech that helped save my nest’s eggs.”

Optimus opened his mask with a smile as he took her servo and politely kissed the back of it. “And you are just as beautiful. Will your wings be okay? How did you get here?”

“I will be alright; Bombshell will be here to make sure they dry properly. As for getting here, I believe that my protectors had the nest on an asteroid before it crashed here.” She looked over at the mech for confirmation. Bombshell nodded with a grunt and gestured at the berth so that their queen could recover from just hatching. “Please leave now Orion, Ratchet I have to recover.”

She was quickly hidden away by the hulking frames of her nest. Ratchet went to try and talk to her, but one of the drones got in his face with a loud shrill and the medic knew it was best to leave before the Insecticons thought they were dinner. When the two mechs were gone, Fritillary laid on the large berth with Bombshell and Shrapnel laid on either side of her with their mandibles cleaning their sides of her. Whatever bits they missed would be absorbed by her protoform. The nest were all in their insect forms and were nestling around the large berth, some tried touching her frame with their antennae and while some were able to get to her others weren’t able to get ahold of her.

“Where is Hardshell?” Fritillary asked with a tired expression on her face. She was tired from ripping her way out of her cocoon, but the feeling of mandibles and antenna gently massaging her frame. “We have to rebuild… the hive.” The femme rolled onto her side with her wings laid flat against her back. Bombshell nuzzled against the slender frame. He was excited to have an actual femme to be able to hold eggs. The Insecticons had domination fights while under Arachnid’s ruling, and even though he pumped every single drone full of eggs none of them became fertilized because none of them had the proper equipment to carrying the eggs, so they would just wither away into nothing. Now that Fritillary was okay, they had a much better chance at expanding the nest.

“Fake queen, queen will need incentive to come out. I have plan, plan but-" he stopped his preening and saw the look on his queen’s face telling him to go on. “Your friend, friend Megatron is also eager to kill her, her. We could use, use him to our advantage.”

Fritillary turned to face her protector with a thankful smile. “Go to Megatron and tell him I wish to meet him. We will be at the waterfall in the forest.” She tiredly kissed his faceplate before finally surrendering to recharge.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family comes reunites. And I'm still terrible at summaries

Chapter 2

Hardshell was in pain, the pods were not meant to reside in him for this long. He needed to get to his nest soon or they will lose the chance of expanding their hive. But, with Arachnid venting down his neck he had no idea how he was going to do that. The few of his brothers that were with him were instinctively protecting him from any harm. As a pod bearer, it was his duty to provide their queen the special fuel that would kick start her interface array and increase the chance of her becoming heavy with eggs. The pods also were the fuel an egg heavy queen could only consume. They also helped with the laying of the eggs.

“Hardshell, are you even listening to me!?” One of Arachnid’s legs swung at Hardshell's helm. He looked at her with a blank stare to which she groaned in frustration. “I asked where are all of the Insecticons?”

The large mech leaned in close to her with his mandibles tapping impatiently. “Don’t know. Been here.”

The spider screamed as she grabbed his face and brought him to her level. “Find them and bring them back here. We’re going to kill Megatron.”

 _Find them means leaving. Returning to queen!_ Hardshell turned to his brothers and screamed to get their attention. The others crawled out of the darkness and dropped behind the pod bearer. They took off in flight, not aware that Arachnid was following them.

In the hive, Fritillary was in the hot oil bath with a few of the drones cleaning her with care. She was getting a massage while being fed bite sized energon crystals. The queen loved it, remembering this sort of treatment when she was just a princess of her new hive. She was just a hatchling when her hive traded her for a few of their drones and a pod bearer. Even as a hatchling she knew it was normal even if outsiders did not.

“Guests arrived, arrived." Bombshell entered her chambers with Megatron following behind with a couple Vehicons trailing after him.

Fritillary rose slowly with the drones quickly cleaning her frame of the oil with their glossas and the drying cloths they took from the Nemesis. She stepped out gracefully as her bottom wings transformed into her skirt. Megatron had to admit she did look magnificent since he had seen her last. He took her extended servo and kissed the back of it with a smile on his lips. “Megatronus, I am so glad to see you again. I hope my nest were behaving themselves when they summoned you.”

“They were very blunt when they came to me. You said you had a proposition for me? I had assumed you would have gone to Optimus for this request.” Megatron stepped back and crossed his arms.

The Insecticon drones transformed and pressed their frames against her skirt. Fritillary paid them no mind as she explained herself. “My nest is not complete, I have many of them missing, including Hardshell. He is the most important of my hive that I must have returned to me if my hive is to thrive. You and I both wish to see this Arachnid terminated. If you can help me get rid of her and return the Insecticons to me safely, I can give you one of the new Insecticons I will have as a token of my gratitude as well as give you some of our energon.”

She held her servo out and Kickback dropped down from the ceiling while transforming. In his servos was not the standard energon that they have found from the mines, this energon was a deep red. Megatron’s optical widened as he took it to examine it closely. “This is… this is the energon that the Council wanted. What is it? Is it stronger than dark energon?”

“It is. We have no name for it, but your Council called it Solstice energon. Matures in absolute darkness and is the purest of energon. My protectors had it with them when we left Cybertron." She plucked it from Megatron’s hold. “Now do we have a deal Megatronus?”

Megatron grinned as he held one of his large servos out to Fritillary. She took it and they shook firmly. The femme handed the crystal back to him, which surprised the gray mech. “I believe your people call it a down payment. I will not be able to have the eggs until Hardshell and the others are returned to me.”

“I will see to it that this is put to good use. I will have my mechs look for the spider and inform you of her location.” Megatron kissed her servo again before leaving with the Vehicons following after them.

When the Decepticons were gone, Fritillary’s smile disappeared, and she looked at Bombshell. “Were you able to plant the cerebro shell?”

“Yes, your majesty-ty. Don’t trust, trust them.” Bombshell stood beside the queen.

“We are just ensuring that my friend is not holding any of the others prisoner.” She reminded the mech before looking at the ceiling, “let’s go for a flight.”

Her protectors made sure she was more than one-hundred percent ready before taking her out of the safety of the nest. Fritillary transformed into a massive Cybertronian version of a butterfly; her body was the length of Optimus. Each wing was Megatron’s arm length, and her wings fluttered when the bright sun rays hit her wings. They reflected their colors onto the ground, drawing the attention of the native creatures to the colored sections of the sand. Fritillary looked at her protectors, finding them ready for lift, she flapped her wings and lifted into the air with the four mechs protecting her from behind.

Bombshell flew underneath her while one of his brothers was behind her and the other flew on the side of her. “Queen should have all of hive, hive with her.” He had been grumbling about how unsafe it was for her to be outside with so little protection.

“Bombshell, I believe the less we expose ourselves the more the secrecy of the nest will be secured. I won’t be asking for flying once we start rebuilding the nest.” The femme assured the mech as they broke through the cloud bank. She transformed and hovered in the air with her wings dramatically flapping when a scent hit her olfactory sensor. “Do you smell that?”

The mechs transformed and joined in the smelling, “Insecticons-cons. Can’t trust yet-yet.” Shrapnel forced their queen to ground and they forced her to return towards the nest. Fritillary didn’t want to retreat if it was Insecticons! What if they were part of her hive already? Kickback literally scooped his queen into his arms and bounded for the nest while the rest of his brothers remained behind to see who these Insecticons were.

They transformed to their bipedal forms as several strange Insecticons landed in front of them. Once the mystery group all landed, they soon started a hissing fight in show of intimidation. Bombshell transformed back into his preferred form and started clicking his horns together as he hissed louder. “Who are you-you? Not nest-nest.”

“Heard sound of queen,” the largest of the group drew out his ‘S's. Shrapnel transformed and the end of his horns started sparking up as he geared up to fight. “You are the nest our brothers Hardshell and Duststorm went to as a gift from our old queen. I am Arachne.”

Bombshell looked at his clutch mate and the gave a loud shrieking cry, it was soon answered with Kickback landing behind his brothers with Fritillary landing gracefully on her peds. Her top set of wings transformed around her torso and arms like they did before. She knelt down beside her protectors with her servos gently touching their helms to calm them down. “You heard my call? I was trying to locate the rest of my hive that this femme claiming to be a queen took. Where is your hive?”

Arachne looked at his group and them back at Fritillary’s authoritative gaze. “Our queen had sadly offlined from lack of hive members. Energon was low and we sacrificed hundreds of our nest to keep her online. We wish to join the hive Hardshell and Duststorm was gifted to, if queen will have us?”

Fritillary frowned and walked over to the group, seeing how tired looking they all were. She swept a lithe servo under the large mech’s jawline as a compassionate smile formed. “You poor things, did you all fly here just to find a new queen? And is it just you eight?”

“Yes,” the mech was finally relieved and thrilled to be touched by a queen after so long. “We wish to serve and protect hive again.” The mechs knew that Fritillary had say on whether she wanted these mechs or not integrated into her hive. It didn’t matter if they had the highest success rate at fertilizing the eggs, was blind and was missing a mandible, the strongest, or had the thinnest frame build, Fritillary had the final say.

The smile remained as she did an inspection of each of them. It went from touching their frames to smelling them and then as far as rubbing her frame against them. She stopped in front of a smaller built Insecticon that had four sets of optics on his face and four more on his chest, a long red tail curled behind him, and his mandibles were serrated on the edges rather than smooth pieces like her hive. “How many of them are growing? The pods inside your pouches.”

The mech in question looked at her with all of his optics widening. He put his servos to his sides and looked where the hidden pouches were. “I have four, which is the max I can carry until my final molt. Your highness.”

“So young and bearing pods, your hive must have been desperate to rebuild. What is your name young fledgling?” She questioned while running her servo along his tail and went to touch the sharpened point, but he quickly pulled it away which triggered Fritillary’s protectors and then triggered his hive mates.

“I’m sorry, it’s just there’s poison in my stinger and I’m still learning to control it. My hive mates have been calling me Scorponok. Your highness.” He dipped his helm respectively.

The one named Arachne put his servo on the pod bearer's shoulder. “The rest of the pod bearers were fairly old and could no long bear pods for the queen, they were the first to offer themselves to her. Which left Scorponok to do the duties a pod bearer would. Myself, Buzzclaw, and Flyzar are warriors. Ripsaw, Mothball, and Waspinator are egg guardians. And then Barrage and his twin Chop Shop are drones.”

Fritillary unfurled her top wings and her smile remained, but the meaning behind it changed. “Then I welcome you to my hive. I will have Shrapnel escort you all to the nest where I will properly welcome you into the hive.”

“And where are you going to be at my queen?” Arachne questioned as she had Bombshell and Kickback join her sides.

“Going to visit an old friend for a bit. Shrapnel will explain when you are safely inside the nest. Come along you two.” She jumped in the air and transformed. The two mechs flew after her as soon as the third member of their clutch led the others to their hive.

“Is it smart to-to use them both? Megatron and Optimus-mus hate each other-other now.” Bombshell flew close to Fritillary out of understandable paranoia. He raised his queen from a slagging hatchling, and he’ll be damned if anything hurt her.

Fritillary stopped flying to look at her protectors. “They used and hurt my nest, I am just showing my friends that you don’t do that to friends. I also wish to speak to Orion and Ratchet about keeping the natives away from our nest.”

Kickback transformed and pointed down below, getting his clutch brother and queen’s attention. Down below there were Cybertronians standing below them and looked to be taking aim at them. Fritillary transformed with her wings wrapping around her body as she dramatically landed with Bombshell and Kickback landing in front of her. She flared her wings as her optics landed on the Cybertronians in front of her. One was a femme, there was a heavy green mech, a white mech with red and blue accents, and then a yellow and black mech.

The two Insecticons were hissing and rubbed their mandibles together. Their queen lowered to their current height and rubbed their helms. “They won’t hurt me. After all Orion told me his people won’t hurt my nest no longer.” She rose as Bombshell and Kickback transformed. “Why don’t you put those hideous things away before I have to take drastic measures?”

“We are supposed to be robots in disguise. A giant butterfly isn’t exactly discreet.” The femme kept her blasters out.

Fritillary remained calm before looking at the three mechs that were trying to figure out what to do. “Hmm, it’s too bad I don’t have any pod bearers. You three will certainly be welcomed into the hive any time. Strong ground frames. Don’t you think, Bombshell?”

The mech in question stared at the three grounders in question before answering. “Two grounders have-have wings-wings. Eggs with their CNA-A could produce fliers-iers.”

“Femme-Femme useless. Could be-be guardian.” Kickback gave his opinion which triggered the femme to attempt at striking the jumper, but her teammates were quick to hold her off.

Despite the attempt, Fritillary remained unfazed. “Now Kickback, there’s no need to be rude.” She looked at the yellow and black mech before taking a step in front of her protectors and basically yanked him closer to her. The femme started doing small circles around him while keeping her dainty servo on his frame. “I have never seen grounders with wings. Orion never told me about your kind. Can you fly?”

‘N-No. And I’m a Praxian.’ He beeped, buzzed, and swirled while trying to keep his wings from reacting so much.

Fritillary stopped in front of him with her top wings folding around her torso. “Praxian? Interesting. You know Orion and Ratchet saved my nest before from your kind. They wanted to take the eggs the previous queen had before she died. They helped us relocate five-hundred of them before they raided my old nest. We did nothing to them or their people. We kept to ourselves in the outlands, but they saw us as the problem. Am I going to have to worry about your people taking my eggs from me again?”

The mech beeped nervously as he looked over at the two Insecticons that looked dangerously at them. ‘Why would they want your eggs for?’

“Hmm, because they wanted to create monsters.” Fritillary stroked the back of her servo against the mech’s face. “I may not look like your people, but we are sentient and do not like having our young or people killed because of some bickering that we have no purpose being in. Don’t you agree-”

‘Bumblebee.’

“Don’t you agree, Bumblebee?” Fritillary repeated her question.

A familiar deep voice caught everyone’s attention. “Fritillary, leave Bumblebee alone.”

“Orion! Just the mech I wanted to see.” The femme quickly turned and walked up to the large mech, and hugged him before kissing the side of his helm. When Fritillary stepped away from Bumblebee, he seemed to have snapped out of whatever happened, he was shaking his helm with a confused beep.

“I told you that my team won’t hurt your nest anymore, so I would appreciate you not hazing my mechs.” Optimus suggested before kissing her servo. He looked at his team and the femme, “we should do introductions in our base. Will Bombshell and Kickback restrain themselves from attacking my team and our charges?”

The femme folded her bottom wing with a smile, “they will behave themselves.”

Bombshell glared up at Optimus with his optics brightening. “Still a Prime.”

“Bombshell, Orion is fine.” She spoke with a firm tone.

A ground bridge opened up and Fritillary heard Kickback’s antennae click together. She felt Bombshell’s interest of their machine spike. With this they could bring more hives to repopulate the Insecticon species. Fritillary ignored the tiny organics and eagerly hugged Ratchet with a kiss on his cheek plate. The medic kissed the back of her servo just like how Optimus did.

“You look much better than the last time I saw you.” Ratchet complimented his friend before his attention went to the grasshopper that licked his mandibles. “Hey, no eating our equipment! It’s bad enough you ate half of town.”

Kickback hissed at the medic but ultimately stopped his drooling. Fritillary made herself at home on a stack of boxes. She instantly had the two other Insecticons glued to her side. “I actually wished to talk to you Orion-”

“His name’s Optimus now.” Arcee corrected the other femme.

“Arcee, it's fine. Please continue Fritillary.” Optimus wanted to keep the peace.

The Insecticon femme smiled with her legs crossing elegantly, “well I would like to talk to you about help us find a way to keep the organics away from my nest. Unfortunately, I have no way to take my hive back to Cybertron. And you know how powerful a queen’s scent is when they emerge from their cocoon. I already accidentally attracted some to this planet. Poor things lost their entire hive.”

“If you’re a queen, and you function like our colony insects, how come you’re out here and not in the center of your hive?” The youngest of the humans asked curiously.

“Well without pod bearers, I can’t have eggs. And besides I wish to see my friends. Megatronus certainly grew the last I saw him, _very_ spiky.” She explained while petting her protectors on the top of their helms. “Orion, if you can help me find a way to safely get back home or perhaps a more remote location, I would greatly appreciate.”

Bombshell pulled out another red energon crystal from his subspace, tossing it at the Prime with a bit of force. He was much to busy enjoying the attention he was getting from his queen. “Hive, wants Queen-Queen back in nest-est.”

“I know Bombshell, we’re almost done.” Fritillary kissed the top of his helm, this trigger both of them to practically climb into her lap. Jack was quick to cover Raf's eyes, Bumblebee covered his optics with a surprised buzz. “I will gift you one of my eggs once they are laid, but that will be some time.”

“Fritillary,” Ratchet spoke firmly to get her attention. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep us a secret from the humans? It’s real fragging hard. And Cybertron is dead, there is no energon our planet, at least not enough to fuel your hive even at it’s current state. Your best bet is to just stay put.”

The femme continued petting them while Ratchet spoke. She stopped to think about it, her optics locked with her protectors’ and her expression softened. “I have to protect my hive Ratchet, if you believe staying put is the safest solution, then perhaps you are right. You’ve already done so much for my hive. I would like to leave now.”

“Will have to-to reinforce-force hive.” Bombshell advised after helping Fritillary off the crates. She unfurled her top wings and looked at Ratchet expectedly. “We leave-leave now.”

“But Megatron could kill all of you. Aren’t you afraid?” Smokescreen questioned until he looked into Fritillary’s stern gaze and he started shaking his helm. “I-I… so, wow. Smells so,” he went to reach for her, but Fritillary broke the gaze and smiled at everyone as if nothing happened.

“Please do remember, I’m not like normal Cybertronians. Megatronus won’t hurt me.” She reminded before actually walking over to Smokescreen and traced the edge of his wing slowly. “If you were an Insecticon, you would be considered a second stage shed, but I know your kind upgrade differently. Orion, I should return to my hive before they get worked up and come here.”

Optimus looked at Ratchet who opened a ground bridge to the desert; he looked back at his friend and looked a tad worried still. “Will you be alright my friend? And I will see what I can do to help your people, but please try and restrain yourself from harming the humans.”

“I will be fine Orion, I have my nest and my nest has me. And I will try my best, but I only have control over those that want to be in my nest.” She kissed the side of his face and then did the same to Ratchet. “Farewell Ratchet.”

“If you need anything,” he tossed Bombshell an external comlink, “comm us. You take care of her now.”

Bombshell looked at the small device in his servo with thoughtful clicks before subspacing it. “Queen, queen always safe-afe with us, us.”

Fritillary unfurled her bottom wings and flapped them slowly as she led her protectors through the ground bridge. When they made it out, they all transformed and took off. “Queen sad, sad?”

“I am just saddened by the fact my friends are fighting each other.” She spoke with a bit of guilt in her voice, “I don’t wish to hurt my friends like this, but their fighting is endangering the hive.”

Once they landed outside the nest entrance, Kickback nudged his helm against her side. “Hive will be fine-ine. Now that Bombshell-ell has control over their leaders.”

“For emergencies only, I don’t want to hurt them. Come along, we have new hive mates to introduce into the hive.” She flew inside with the two close behind. Second her peds touched the cool earth of her hive, millions of red optics lit up the walls and the soft thrumming sounds of wings buzzing brought life to the long entrance hall. Fritillary smiled and slowly, but confidently walked.

“Tonight, we fuel and rest up, and tomorrow we start the search for our lost hive mates. And as soon as they are safely back home, we can start the rebuild of our home!” She stopped in the middle of the hall where it opened into different sections. “The outsiders think Cybertron is dead, but we live off of our home planet and have enough energon safely stored in the old hive, to give Cybertron thousands of hives!”

Ten Insecticons dropped from the ceiling of the walls, and joined Bombshell in his screeching. Fritillary rose her servo to get their attention, “tonight we rest up, tomorrow we rebuild, and when we have built a strong hive we take back our home. We rebuild Cybertron to support life again!”

Hundreds more dropped and gave out a war cry. Fritillary left to let Bombshell lead in the war cries while she went into her chamber to speak with the new members. Scorponok was tugging at the end of his tail, drawing out the poison into his servos, and lathered himself in it. They all stopped and looked up at their new queen. Buzzclaw walked close to the femme and clicked his mandibles, waiting to be accepted by her. Fritillary walked to her berth, only managing to sit down before they all surrounded her. Their chest plates eagerly opening up, waiting for her to draw each of them close to bond.

The queen drew in the warriors first, kissing them softly before opening her chest plate and merged with each of them. She did the same with the guardians, then the drones, and then the one pod bearer. As a queen, Fritillary was capable of merging hundreds of times without overloading or her spark giving out. When she was finished merging, the new members crawled into the giant berth with their frames acting like a barrier to keep anyone from getting close.

She was enjoying herself, just casually rubbing a mandible or an appendage or even antennas. Fritillary looked up when the door opened with one of the drones originally from her nest entering. “Yes Venom?”

“Scouts found Insecticon scent on the other side of the forest.” Every time the orange and green mech spoke his pinchers clicked together.

“Don’t engage, I want to be sure that the scent is from Hardshell or one of the others.” She commanded while one of the new members nuzzled her chest and rubbed his wings together. Fritillary hummed happily as she lifted his face to her, kissing him gently. “Did my nest feed you while you all waited?”

“Yes, my queen, your nest is very big. Plenty of room for eggs and fledglings.” Arachne complimented while he was being caressed. “Scorponok can start feeding you pods, and we can expand the hive.”

The queen nodded in agreement to the statement, but she refused the offer, “I will wait for my nest's pod bearer. So poor Scorponok doesn’t have all of the duties put on him. I have also promised him the first feeding.”

“As you wish.” He bowed his helm respectfully while the scorpion looked a tad disappointed that he couldn’t serve out his duty. Then again he had never had the chance to be properly trained by his fellow pod bearers from his old hive. By the time the first pod started forming, they had already perished.

Fritillary felt the disappointment through the small strand of the hive. She gently pushed Arachne off her and carefully tugged Scorponok to her. Her lips gently pressed just above his optics. “Do not be upset young Scorponok, I do not wish to put all of the pressure of ensuring the growth of the hive onto you. You are much too young to do it all by yourself. Hardshell will be able to teach you everything you need to know.”

“I understand my queen.” His tail curled in on itself to prevent any accidental stinging.

With that settled, Fritillary settled down to properly rest. The group were joined by a few others squeezing in or around the berth. The queen was very relaxed and happy with everything falling place. All they needed now was to expand the nest and grow their numbers, if they attracted any more stray Insecticons, then they would be able to help increase their numbers too. After all it was the way of life for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma try and catch up on my other posts, I'm really sorry for not posting a lot here.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hive still hates Arachnid

Chapter 3

Shrapnel was leading a small group of scouts through the underground tunnels that they were forming as they crawled. It was much safer for them, protecting them from any heat-seeking devices. He stopped crawling and tapped his mandibles and horns together, getting vibrations and scents before clicking. The beetle looked up and started digging upwards until moonlight peeked through the hole. The Insecticons started crawling out of the hole like an angry nest of ants who were being disturbed.

“Nest scent-scent. Hardshell-shell.” The beetle transformed with the drones doing the same.

“Sticky trap?” One of the drones asked as green mucus dripped from his mouth. He swiped his four servos over his mouth, forming a thick ball of the substance.

Shrapnel looked at him before nodding, “trees-ees.”

The scout hurried off to plant the trap while the other scouts returned to their alt modes, following scents and giving out screeches when their area was clear. Shrapnel kept his optics on his nest, not seeing the femme landing behind him. “Well what do we have here?” The beetle turned around swiftly, taking a fighting stance. His visors glowed brightly when he saw a femme that wasn’t his queen.

“Not queen-een.” His horns tapped aggressively against each other, drawing the rest of the scouting party to him. The scouts landed from the air, dug up from the ground, or just crawled across the forest floor.

“Not your queen? Well of course I am your queen, though now that you mention it, I don’t remember seeing you with my Insecticons.” She sauntered closer to Shrapnel and went to touch him, but he grabbed her servo tightly in his, growling in her face. “Unhand me this instance!”

Shrapnel gave a receptor piercing shrill in her face. The beetle threw her away from him and smacked his horns hard against each other, sparking electricity through them. “Fake queen!” The scout from earlier gathered up the sticky substance from his mouth and spewed it in her direction. The femme leapt out of the way, transforming into half a spider which oddly angered the Insecticons further. “Fake!”

The beetle transformed and launched a ball of electricity at her, but she dodged that as well. There was a screeching sound that caused the scouts to stop attacking and start their identification process. They rubbed their wings together and clicked their mandibles. Shrapnel was rearing up defensively, ready to attack again even as several brutish Insecticons landed in front of Arachnid. The scouts all making sounds of agitation at seeing Insecticons that smelt like the fake queen. The stag beetle slammed his horns against the ground.

“So now you decide to show up, you’re so useless. Attack them now!” Arachnid pointed at Shrapnel and his group. Hardshell transformed and flicked his wings rapidly to create a buzzing sound. He made no signs of actually desiring to attack, but rather stare at them. “Hardshell you idiot! Attack them for attacking your q-”

The sound of a portal opening followed by Arachnid trying to dodge a wave of laser fire left the Insecticons to do their thing. Megatron and Soundwave with a few Vehicons walked through, the Decepticon warlord was smirking as he walked past the smaller Insecticons. “Now Arachnid, you have really dug yourself a hole. Not only do I despise your existence, but an old friend of mine who has never experienced dealing with you also wants you dead."

“I’m not that easy to kill Megatron.” Arachnid laughed coolly as she fired back at them. The Insecticons, that had previously followed the spider all turned and smacked their horns together on the ground. “Why are you turning against me!?”

“Because-” Fritillary and a large swarm of warriors, including her new members, landed in the middle of the group already there. “You are not their queen! You dare claim to help them return home!?”

“Who- who the frag are you?” The spider asked while looking at the dainty looking creature.

Hardshell and the rest of his comrades instantly buzzed and gathered around Fritillary, they were literally buzzing with excitement at seeing her online. The queen smiled down at them before looking back at Arachnid with her optics narrowed. Megatron chuckled and gestured at his friend, “ah perfect timing. Arachnid meet Fritillary, a _true_ queen. Fritillary, this is Arachnid, a backstabbing femme who isn’t afraid to murder anyone and everyone.”

The scorpion that was standing behind Fritillary transformed and looked at his queen and then back at the spider. Fritillary heard, well more like felt Scorponok pull through the hive bond. She looked at the glaring femme with her own stern gaze. “You're that collector, the one who killed Scorponok’s birth nest.”

Shrapnel looked at his queen before releasing a loud war cry. His horns smacked again until they were sparking with so much energy his arms were crackling. The scouts were lifting in the air getting ready to attack, Scorponok’s tail curled and uncurled with the tip of it dripping with poison. Fritillary’s wings transformed and she put a servo on her hip with a proud smirk. She said nothing before Shrapnel released a loud cry and all of the Insecticons that weren’t in their alt mode quickly transformed, and were gathered around their queen while beating their wings together.

“I know when I’m outnumbered. We’ll just have to dance another time.” Arachnid’s spider legs were quick to action. In a flash the spider was underground and the Insecticons went to go after her, but Fritillary rose her servo to stop them.

“Fritillary, why did you let her go?” Even Megatron saw her actions confusing. “She tricked your hive, you had her in your clutches.”

The femme looked up at Megatron with a smile, “I am aware, but we have more important things to worry about. Her time will come, and we’ll be sure to put her carcass to good use. Won’t we?” She leaned down and playfully grabbed Shrapnel's horns, getting him to chitter.

“Hive, hive wants queen back-ack.” Shrapnel transformed and tapped his horns together before hissing at one of the drones when they started nibbling at his leg. “Not food, food.”

Soundwave looked at his leader and then at his curious looking friend. He pointed at Fritillary which got her attention away from being touched and nuzzled by the Insecticons that were with Hardshell. They weighed tons compared to her yet she was able to have a firm stance when they were pushing up against her. “This one does not look like the others.” He had used a recording of Starscream from a very long time ago.

“Fritillary is an example of a real queen for the Insecticon race. Fritillary, this is Soundwave a mech you can trust. Before the war, Insecticons came in a wide variety of colors and forms just like us.” Megatron explained while the scout was rubbing at his face and threw the slime at a tree. “And what is he doing?”

The femme looked at the scout as he transformed and climbed up to the tree. “He’s marking the area safe. I have to return to my nest now, thank you for returning my lost members to me. Hardshell has been very cranky lately since the pods formed.”

Megatron looked at the Insecticon, that had been loyal to Arachnid just moments ago, hiss at Scorponok and dodged the tail that was being launched at him. “That one is new, he wasn’t among your hive when I came to visit.”

“Oh right, the remaining members of his hive followed my scent to this planet! It’s truly amazing what they will do to find a hive. Millions of light years away and they can still find the scent of a queen." She folded her wings back before looking at the swarm of mechs around her. They didn’t step away from the invisible line that separated their queen and the Decepticons. “I’ll send for you soon, goodbye Megatronus.”

She lifted herself into the air with the swarm of Insecticons lifting up behind her. Those with ground form remained in their bipedal form to fly. Fritillary barely transformed and landed on her peds before she had two yellow pods lifted to her face. She lowered them away from her face, this wasn’t sign of rejection so the two pod bearers weren’t the least upset by the action.

“Hardshell, please you’ve all been through a lot. Don’t you wish to rest for the day?” The queen inquired while her servo was hovering above the sticky yellow pod.

“No,” the giant answered bluntly as usual. “Hive needs to grow.”

Fritillary touched the side of his face and led the two pod bearers to her chambers. Hardshell looked around and made a few clicking sounds at a small collection of drones. They got to work cleaning their queen’s chambers and prepped the oil bath for later use. Scorponok was standing beside Fritillary and watched them in amazement.

“It’s a pod bearer's duty to make sure nothing is out of order before giving their queen a pod. The ones from your nest didn’t have the time to train you, fledgling?” Fritillary asked from her spot on her berth.

The scorpion shook his helm while clicking his serrated mandibles. “They were far too old to show us. There were two others in my old hive, but their pods didn’t develop large enough to be useful. And they gave themselves to our old queen also.”

“Well Hardshell will be able to teach you everything you need, do not worry.” She had her legs neatly crossed and gave the spot next to her a few pats. Scorponok sat down while holding his tail in his lap. “You don’t look like you will be having your last molt for awhile. Your plating is still rather shiny.”

The red mech shook his helm, “I had one before we left Cybertron.”

It wasn’t much longer before Hardshell sent the drones off and marched over to his queen and lowered in front of her. He looked at Scorponok and clicked, getting the younger mech to quickly move to his side and mimic him. The older one lifted his pod up to his queen with his peer doing the same. Fritillary didn’t dare touch the pods, pod bearers were highly protective of them, but rather she touched the back of the larger servos and gently nibbled off the outer protective sealant. Hardshell helped her suck the contents down as if it was energon. The pods were filled with a thick warm liquid, and was more filling than any energon on their home planet.

Once the first pod was sucked dry Scorponok and Fritillary did the same thing. It was normal that after drinking even one pod a queen would become a bit drowsy, and would sleep it off before they were truly ready. Fritillary was feeling it and she moved further back on the large berth with the two pod bearers laying on either side of her. Their optics glowed when their systems knew that they had successfully prepped their queen for hive expansion. Outside the room the news was buzzing around the hive and they were all skittering around while giving out high pitched thrills. Some were even around the outside of the nest looking like a million ants whose nest had been disturbed by a predator.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fritillary finally becomes ready to have eggs, and the hive loves it.

Chapter 4

When she onlined again Fritillary’s body bent in half as she released a loud gasp. She was being held by Hardshell. His mandibles clicked as he started sniffing her frame to ensure that her frame was ready. While he was doing this, Scorponok was holding another of his pods to her. The femme allowed herself to be fed the thick liquid. The older pod bearer stopped his inspection and dramatically stood on the makeshift berth, throwing his arms back as he let out a high-pitched shrill.

After the dramatics, dozens of purple and red optics lit up the entire room. The queen tiredly let out a chuckle before she was no longer able to see the lights of the room. The day was near to completion before the hive finally clambered off the berth. Fritillary didn’t move as the drones were quick to clean her off and fuel her. They were going to have to wait a couple solar cycles before they could get a confirmation of their queen being heavy with eggs.

“Bombshell,” Fritillary quietly called for him. The beetle scurried onto the berth, using his frame to shield her from view. “Is the nest almost built?”

“Yes-es my Queen-Queen. Had to expand food storage-age.” Bombshell’s mandibles clicked as he rubbed his face against Fritillary’s cheek plate.

She nodded before she was joined by more Insecticons. They weren’t looking for anything but to cuddle for her comfort. Fritillary turned onto her side while Hardshell forced himself under her arm. “Welcome home Hardshell.”

_Back on old Cybertron in the outskirts of the cities were the Insecticon hives, but to the Insecticons themselves they were kingdoms. They lived in relative harmony, drones only getting into territory fights when someone different crossed the invisible lines. Two kingdoms, one of ground and the other of the air, met at their borders, both were heavily guarded but for the protection against poachers. The queen of the major air hive was an elegant purple mech with two wings and feathery looking antennae. In his arms was red and purple egg that had a gold circle at the top of the egg. With him the five drones were holding either energon crystals or different eggs. The queen of one of the minor ground hives was an emerald green beetle femme with her wings covering her back like a long cape. The drones with her also had either energon or eggs in their hold, but the egg in her arm was a translucent white with honey yellow splotches decorating it._

_“Have you brought the required payment-ment?” The femme asked the mech as the drones clicked and hissed at each other._

_“I have, and did you bring the required payment?” He questioned as they stepped closer to each other. “I produced three princess egg pods, only this one survived the incubation period.”_

_The beetle queen was joined by a young stag beetle, his mandibles clicked as he hit his horn against the red sands of the Sea of Rust. The drones of the air hive all flared their wings, but the queen put his servo out as he lowered to the beetle’s current height. “This is Bombshell-shell, he is going to be the new princess’s guard-guard. He has been excited to see his charge-arge.”_

_“Would you like to hold your new princess?” The male queen offered the egg to Bombshell. The beetle transformed, kneeling as he held his servos out wanting to hold his new charge. “You take good care of your princess now; this will be the last time I will be able to produce more.”_

_Bombshell nodded as he had the mucousy egg placed in his open servos. “I will protect princess-cess with my life.”_

_The trade went smoothly, and both sides going back to their hives without little words to say. When they made it back to the hive that stood tall in the open, Bombshell and the others were greeted by buzzing hive members. The queen was holding onto her new heir, smiling when she felt it shake in her servos._

_“Welcome to your new hive-hive, you’ll make a great queen-queen one day little flier-lier.” The queen placed the princess egg pod in a small crater that was lined with hot embers with sheets of metal covering it to prevent any burning. Bombshell and two others were excitedly skittering around the crater. “Kickback, Shrapnel-nel, Bombshell-shell protect pod-pod."_

_“Yes Queen-Queen.” They all bowed before laying near the pod._

Fritillary sat up with a gasp. She looked around, seeing that the berth was filled several large frames surrounding her. The floor wasn’t as filled, but it was enough that she would have to be careful to avoid stepping on any of them. Her gaze went up to where she saw Arachne weaving a web above her.

He lowered himself, offering her a servo and she took it with a smile. Arachne carefully pulled her into his arms, returning to his web. He held her close to his frame to avoid his queen getting caught in his web. “You were around during the kingdoms? You are older than I had thought, and you only had your molt?”

“I am and I did. The previous Queen was still able to produce for the hive, but I didn’t become Queen until poachers killed the old Queen to steal the last eggs she had.” Fritillary mindlessly stroked the spider’s smaller arm. “That’s where I met my friends Ratchet, Orion Pax, and Megatronus.”

“Did you ever meet your spark hive?” Arachne asked curiously while he took in the sweet scent of his queen. “How is young Scorponok doing with his duties?”

The two looked down at the scorpion that was curled against Hardshell. “He is doing fantastic, Hardshell is impressed with him. So Hardshell came from your hive?”

“He did, he took the base form of the beetle drones that paired with our queen.” Arachne’s web bounced against his smaller legs and his helm whipped in the direction of the movement. He gave out a disappointed sigh when it was a tiny fly. “I forget that this planet is not our home, I cannot consume the prey here.”

“I do wish there was a way I could help with that; I am sorry Arachne.” Fritillary cupped his face with a sweet smile. “Do you know anything about the femme that pretends to be an Insecticon?”

Arachne shook his helm while ripping off the strand that the tiny earth insect was stuck on. “It was like she scanned an Insecticon. She certainly doesn’t smell like us, hive or not, she would never have been a Queen.”

“I figured as much; I didn’t feel threatened by her like I did with the other hive princesses.” Fritillary noticed that some of the other hive members were onlining. Arachne lowered her back on the berth before returning to his web. “Come down when you are finished.”

It was later in the solar cycle and Fritillary was being led to a large open area that had a large tree trunk that was carved into a naturalistic looking throne. There were streetlights clumped together by thick mucus, hanging from the ceiling. Upon further inspection, Fritillary saw that the seat was padded with the soft green of fresh moss and the back of it was reinforced with Cybertonium veins. “Oh, did you all make this for me?”

“Not like spark hive throne-throne, but best we can do-o.” Bombshell proudly said he led the femme to the throne. “How does Queen feel-feel?”

Fritillary sat down with her legs crossing elegantly, “I am okay for now Bombshell. Can you retrieve Megatronus for me?”

The mech nodded before flying off. Fritillary wasn’t aware she was still giving off a scent until she heard the sound of beating wings filling out the silence. She looked up from her throne, in sort of awe at the optics glowing brightly in a wave. The Insecticons on the ceiling moved over each other in a hurry. After a few moments, three brave warrior-class Insecticons dropped from the horde, and started climbing on the back of the throne.

“Settle down, we’ll be having a companion soon.” She chuckled while rubbing each of their helms. They gave out excited cries before obediently scurrying off. Hardshell transformed on Fritillary’s right to offer her another pod.

“Scent needs to be strong for their kind.” He was joined by Scorponok. The older mech hissed at him. “My turn.”

Scorponok hissed at him with his tail uncurling. The femme put her servo out, “I will not have any fighting within my hive. Especially when this is a time of celebrating.”

“Yes my Queen.” The two pod bearers bowed their helms.

And with that she allowed Hardshell to feed her the pod. Kickback and one of the drones returned with a bit of scuffs. “Queen-Queen, found prey-prey!” The grasshopper cheered as the drone threw the remains of a scraplet. “Bring back food-food for hatchlings-lings?”

“Kickback, we’re still in the early stages of rebuilding out numbers. We can’t feed the hatchlings rusted scraplets.” She shook her helm with a frown. Then she remembered the web Arachne spun, and she was quick to compromise. “Arachne will spin a web to hold them. Make sure they get fed properly.”

The pair bowed hurrying off. Megatron finally arrived, with Soundwave in tow. Fritillary frowned and sat up straighter. “Megatronus, where is Bombshell?”

“He said he was grabbing the Optimus and Ratchet. Apparently, he wants it done and over with.” Megatron kissed Fritillary’s servo before gesturing at Soundwave. “You remember Soundwave? He had wished to learn about a proper Insecticon hive. With your permission of course.”

“To learn about my hive? What for?” She was joined by Shrapnel with Hardshell hissing at them. “Boys, stop it. I suppose that is okay, as long as he understands that he must have a guide. The tunnels can be rather confusing.”

Megatron looked at the mech beside him. Soundwave nodded in agreement. Chop Shop dropped from the ceiling and got in Soundwave’s face, giving out a loud shrill before walking past them. The femme gave out a disappointed sigh, “I apologize for Chop Shop, well my hive in general. They are tense now that the season started. Would your companion care to join us? The more the merrier.”

“Oh no, Soundwave doesn’t care for that sort of stuff.” Megatron looked down at his friend before shaking his helm. “What is that smell? It’s… It smells… no, what is happening?”

Fritillary looked up from her digits with a relaxed smile. “I’m sorry Megatronus, that’s me. I’ve told you that we are different from your people.” She rose to her peds and watched her old friend struggle to fight against the overwhelmingly sweet scent. “Don’t fight it Megatronus, you agreed to it.”

“You’re my… frag that smell.. my friend.” Megatron fell to one knee when the femme moved closer to him. “Primus it smells so good.”

Insecticons started surrounding them, buzzing and clicking. Bombshell finally returned with Optimus and Ratchet. Fritillary was being cleaned by a few Insecticons while being fed one of Scorponok’s pods. The beetle looked around, “where is brute-ute?”

“Megatronus and his companion were being escorted out of the nest by Hardshell and Kickback.” Fritillary answered after finishing the pod. Optimus and Ratchet kissed her servos when the femme shooed the drones away. “Hello Orion, Ratchet I hope Bombshell was nicer to you this time?”

Ratchet went to nag, but Optimus answered quickly. “He was. And Megatron was here with someone?”

“Oh yes, what was it… ah Soundwave, he’s certainly an interesting Cybertronian. He wasn’t affected by my scent. I think it has to do with that mask, it’s a shame really.” Fritillary tapped her cheek before she shook her helm with a smile. “You’ll have to bring the cute little yellow one the next time you visit. Oh and the sassy colorful one. I didn’t know until that day that your people had wings! They’re so pretty.” Fritillary folded her wings.

“Wait, Soundwave was here? That can’t be good. Did he do anything?” Ratchet was quick to worry about his friend’s hive, because he knew Soundwave didn’t come with Megatron for friendly banter.

She tsked with a wave of her servo. “Oh it’s fine Ratchet, Chop Shop didn’t report anything weird. He was just exploring the nest. By the Great One, you’re starting to sound like Bombshell with all your worrying.”

“We only worry because Soundwave is as you said interesting. He has the ability to read minds, has he tried reading your thoughts?” Optimus questioned.

“Can’t. Hive mind-mind, too many thoughts-oughts.” Bombshell explained before his helm whipped over to his queen’s direction. His frame started tensing up when her scent was becoming stronger. “Time-time.”

“Time? Time for- Primus that smell.” Ratchet could only explain the scent as so overly sweet that if it were a drink he wouldn’t be able to fuel from it. “It smells so sweet.”

Fritillary smiled as she stepped closer to her friend, cupping his face. “It’s okay Ratchet, don’t fight it.”

“What were you asking about… about Bumblebee and Smokescreen?” Optimus’s thoughts were becoming fuzzy.

“Having them come visit me of course. Just for a couple cycles.” She smiled up at the red and blue mech.

Optimus was mumbling something as the scent was becoming stronger. “Y-yeah I’ll have them visit.”

“Perfect!” She kissed their cheek plates.

The Prime and medic returned to their base with equally throbbing helm aches. Ratchet leaned against the terminal with another groan. “Prime, remind me to ask Soundwave how the slag he was able to block the smell.”

“Noted.” Optimus couldn’t even try to hide how he was feeling.

 _Optimus, Ratch what happened? You two look like scrap._ Bumblebee beeped while helping his leader down on a crate.

“We are okay Bumblebee, we just need to refuel and recover.” Optimus watched Ratchet with concern. “Are you alright my friend?”

“I’m fine. Shrapnel kept zapping me. Wasn’t there something you had to do for Fritillary?” Ratchet finally stood straight in order to face Optimus.

The Prime hummed with a shake of his helm, “I remember agreeing to… to something, but what it was I don’t remember. Hmm, oh, Bumblebee, Fritillary wishes to see you and Smokescreen.”

“What!?” Smokescreen stopped playing the video game with the kids. “Go talk to someone, who did _that_ to you!? Are you crazy Optimus?”

“I understand your concern Smokescreen, but Fritillary won’t do anything to hurt you. And this isn’t what you are thinking. She just had a fascination with Cybertronians with wings. Just be polite and the Insecticons won’t bother you.” Optimus assured the two Praxians before finally standing up. “This means we won’t hear from Megatron for a while.”

“I thought Insecticons were all like big and screechy?” Miko asked while looking up from her drawing pad. “And aren’t they the bad guys too?”

Ratchet grumbled at the silly questions, “Insecticon biology is complicated even for us. There used to be hundreds of Insecticon hives that came in so many frame types, their culture is highly advanced. But they are always going to be Insecticons no matter.”

“Like how Ratchet said, they’re culture is complicated and advanced. If you show them that you don’t mean them harm and befriend their queen, then they won’t see you as a threat. We helped Fritillary recover and move her hive from their old nest when poachers.” Optimus explained the beginning of their friendship. “This was back before Megatron turned his back to the council.

“Poachers for what?” Jack questioned.

“Insecticon eggs.” Bulkhead answered, “they would imprint on the first thing they see. Also used as target practice.”

Bumblebee beeped with his wings tilting down. _Why would anyone do that?_

Optimus shook his helm with a disappointed sigh. He didn’t entirely know either before he remembered the strange energon that Bombshell gave him. “Ratchet, that crystal Fritillary gave us?”

“Not yet, all I know is that it’s energy level is higher than normal energon. She’s gotta have a lot of energon to be able to fuel all of them.” Ratchet started typing on the terminal, pulling up data on the energon. “It was the last time that Optimus and Megatron agreed on anything. I was with her helping move what they were able to protect. We only managed to save thirty of them.”

The Prime pressed some buttons on the terminal before a rundown refinery in the middle of nowhere on Cybertron appeared on the screen. “This was where we relocated her nest. It was abandoned by us and scraplets had taken it, but they managed to get rid of them. They were left undisturbed for a very long time, only the three of us were able to get inside to see them.”

“Your friend couldn’t care less about our ways. Walking around as if she was royalty.” Arcee crossed her arms with a glare.

“Well, if they are like ants and bees, she kind of is royalty to them at least.” Raf corrected her before looking at Optimus with a child’s curiosity. “Optimus, won’t this make finding energon even harder?”

The medic stepped in the conversation, “Insecticons were mainly dangerous to smaller civilizations because they can eat metal, energon, and cyber-biological things.”

“Is that why they ate half of the town?” Jack looked at his friends after handing the controller to Miko.

Optimus nodded, “on Cybertron they would go to scrapyards to clean up whatever didn’t make it to smelters.”

Arcee went to speak, but she stopped when she stepped in something sticky. “What the?” They looked up and saw a small green and yellow beetle. “She’s spying on us!?”

The beetle buzzed and flew behind Optimus. “Not sspy, egg guardian. Falsse queen took energon from me. Need food for egss. Can’t tell otherss I failed. Need help from coderss to get back energon.” He peeked over the Prime’s shoulder with one of his small appendages twitching. His optics landed on the puddle and he scurried down Optimus and to the puddle. The Insecticon started scooping it up. “Can't losse energon. Hive need energon.”

“You’re kinda small. Did Fritillary have uh… eggs before?” Bulkhead asked while watching the Insecticon’s thorax glow a bright blue. “Freaky.”

The mech transformed and his wings transformed into a long cape. “No, my coder iss one of your people. I am third ssstage hatchling. Coder came to hive to ssstudy Insssecticon culture, but then he never came back.” He looked at his legs, bouncing a little before frowning with a sad chitter. “Not enough.”

“How did you find us?” Arcee glared at him.

“New clutch coder smell like my coder. Did my coder code you?” He looked up at Optimus with his mandibles clicking.

Optimus shook his helm, “do you know your coder's name?”

The Insecticon clicked his mandibles as he thought hard. “Coder didn’t tell name, but I remember coder! Coder was purple-red and had cape like me. Coder talked about bipedal Godsss, and talked about hisss brothersss and sssissster.” The Insecticon started sniffing the startled Prime, touching his arms and chest as if looking for something. “Sssmell like coder. Ssscent ssstrong in chessst.”

“Optimus just said he wasn’t coded by whoever was crazy enough to be with an Insecticon.” Arcee was still defensive.

The Insecticon transformed and hissed at her, arched his body until a stinger shot out. Optimus put a servo out for them to see that he was stopping this. “I never got your name.”

“Coder named me Tri-Gon.” The mech slowly retracted his stinger and buzzed before sniffing the air. “Queen ssscent ssstrong.”

“Is she here to come get you?” Smokescreen asked the mech who was now skittering in one spot. He started hissing and shrilling loudly.

Ratchet hurried over to the terminal when Tri-Gon started chewing at the floor. A ground bridge opened up and the Insecticon flew out without a second glance back at them. “Great, now I got to fix the floor. Slagging egg guardians are annoying.”

“Why just them?” Raf looked over at the medic.

“When a queen is getting ready to produce eggs, the egg guardians become endless pits of hunger. Their coding demands them to fill up on anything they can convert into fuel for hatchlings. We’ll have to be careful.” The medic went over to the part of the floor that stuck up, and stomped it down. “Should be glad it was just one and not all of them.”

Miko rose an arm in the arm, waving it wildly to get the medic’s attention, but Bulkhead knew what his charge could possibly want. “No, Miko, we’re not taking a field trip to an Insecticon hive.”

“But Bulkhead!” She whined before plopping back on the couch with her arms crossed. “Lame.”

Optimus now had a lot to think about, and now Arachnid was braving to dare steal from the Insecticons which could be bad news for the rest of them. He looked at Bumblebee and Arcee in thought before coming to a decision. “Bumblebee, Arcee I want you to look at all of the most recent empty energon mines for signs of Insecticons in the North quadrant. Bulkhead, Wheeljack you two take the East. Smokescreen, you will come with me and we’ll look at the South.”

The others all nodded before Ratchet opened bridges for them. He needed to get the attention of Megatron, they had a few things to talk about. Optimus only hoped that his old friend would listen and not attack blindly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh.......... really short chapter

Chapter 5

“Queen restless-less.” Shrapnel was standing guard while Fritillary was getting her annual wing massage.

She shook her helm while rubbing the top of Hardshell’s helm. “It’s nothing, I’m just thinking of the past.”

Hardshell and the others stopped what they were doing and started beating their wings. Fritillary looked up with slight interest to see what it was. She sat up straighter when two of the scouts were following Bumblebee and Smokescreen through the crowd of Insecticons. Some dropped from the ceiling just so they could hiss or shrill in their faces.

“Oh, hello, I was not sure Orion would ask you to come.” She repositioned herself so her top wings were at a better position. “Boys, leave the… Praxians alone. They are our guests.”

Bumblebee and Smokescreen were both gearing up for a possible trap, but the Insecticons backed off with a soft thrum of their wings. The elite guard looked at them and then the femme. “Uh, yeah Optimus said you wanted to talk to us. Uh your majesty.”

Fritillary laughed behind her servo, “please call me Fritillary. You are Orion’s friends which make you mine.” She stood on her peds to let her bottom wings unfurl. “And I did, as I told you when we first met I have never met your kind before. And you probably have never seen a proper Insecticon queen or a hive. I bet you have a lot of questions to ask me?”

_ Why are we not being affected by whatever you did to Optimus and Ratchet? _ Bumblebee beeped and jumped when Arachne crawled past him. _Spider!?_

“Oh it’s okay Bumblebee, Arachne has no relation to Arachnid.” She held her servo out to calm the mech down. “Arachne, what happened?”

“Food for hatchlings ready. Excited to show them how to hunt scraplets.” He tapped his large fangs together with excitement from his side of the bond.

The femme smiled as she lowered to gently play with his fangs. “Make sure to take care of them until they are actually ready. It will be a long time before any hatchlings are ready to hunt.” Arachne made almost a purring sound from the personal attention he was getting.

“Yes, my queen.” Arachne scurried off when he was finally released.

Fritillary only managed to stand back up before refocusing her attention on her guests. “Now, back to your question. You’re not being affected by my scent because you are far too young to be of any use to me as a coder. Even if you are not my kind, my own coding see you both as fledglings. Many of my own could not participate with me.”

“What’s a fledgling and hatchling? Wait, what am I saying? You have scraplets down here? Are you nuts!?” Smokescreen started swinging his arms in the air, triggering the Insecticons to see that as a sign of attack.

“Oh knock it off boys.” She looked at all of them before gesturing for Smokescreen and Bumblebee to walk back out the way they came. Bombshell immediately followed them out, staying in his queen’s shadow. “A very long time ago, on our home world there used to be only three species; Predacons, Insecticons, and creatures like the scraplets. Without us to control the population of the scraplets, they would have overrun Cybertron. We thrive on many elements, but your people see us no more intelligent than a petro-rabbit.”

They walked through one of the corridors and Fritillary smiled as they came to a stop near a new tunnel that was being dug out by four Insecticons. One of the Insecticons dragged out a clump of dirt out before a large boulder fell on top of him. He shouted as he tried to get the boulder off him. A long black and orange Insecticon with large pincers, crawled down from the top of hole and pushed the boulder off of the stuck mech. The other workers were laughing at him while the other Insecticon shook his helm with his face getting close in his face. “You owe me now.”

The rescued Insecticon hissed at the mech in clear disagreement. “Owe you nothing, Intrapede.”

“I’ll just push the boulder back on you, wasp.” Intrapede started pushing the boulder towards the mech, but he climbed onto the ceiling with his wings buzzing.

Fritillary sighed at the scene with disappointment. “Fledglings are so childish sometimes. Boys, please no fighting. Intrapede, please behave. Waspinator, please be careful next time.”

“Yes my queen.” They both bowed their helms before going back to cleaning out the hole.

“Aren’t you afraid of the tunnels collapsing?” Smokescreen questioned as they continued their walk. He felt glad that the femme didn’t seem all that interested in him or Bumblebee, well besides her odd fascination with their wings.

Fritillary shook her helm as she folded her wings over her arms and around her waist. “No, we secure the ceiling with a special adhesive the drones produce. And we strategically place them to ensure that nothing collapses. That room is just going to be a material storage. Some of the Insecticons like this planet’s metal and the foliage. The had to adapt in order to prepare for my arrival.”

_ How come we’ve only seen the ones like Hardshell till now? _ Bumblebee asked before they came to a stop in a large cavern that had a underground pond in it. The ceiling above the pond was lit by energon crystals. He buzzed as his wings flared with amazement. _Wow._

Fritillary laughed in her servo at the young mech, “your excitement is appreciated. And to answer your question, Hardshell and the drones were separated from the hive when we first landed on Earth. At that point I was rebuilding myself, so they couldn’t use my scent to find their way home. It took a while before some of the drones found my protectors’ pods and my chrysalis.”

“Then why did they stay with Arachnid and Megatron?” Smokescreen questioned as they followed Fritillary to the pond. She unfurled her wings and lifted to the crystals, coming down with two in her servos.

“Megatron-tron would enslave-ave Insecticons in exchange for Queen-Queen. Fake Insecticon would kill-ill Queen-Queen.” Bombshell finally spoke.

Fritillary nodded as she smiled sadly, “and a hive without a queen is a lost hive. No more dangerous than a mindless Predacon. These are not as admiring as the ones I gave Orion and Ratchet, but these will allow you safe passage in and out of my nest whenever you need anything.”

“Oh, thank you. Uh.. your majesty.” Smokescreen looked at it and then subspaced it. Bumblebee did the same.

“You’re quite welcome fledglings. Thank you for visiting with me.” She smiled as a drone flew towards them, landing in behind the two Autobots. “Barrage will lead you to the entrance.”

_ Thank you for uh… not eating us. _ Bumblebee beeped before following Smokescreen and Barrage out.

When they were out of sight, Bombshell looked at his queen with his wings buzzing slightly. “Creatures did not properly say-say goodbye.:

“Oh hush Bombshell, they’re fledglings, they don’t know any better. Have the scouts found any sign of Arachnid?” Fritillary sat on the edge of the pond and dipped her legs in the water.

The beetle crawled beside her, immediately being stroked on the top of the helm. “Spider webs-ebs seen in edge of forest-est.”

“Good, is the bait ready?” Fritillary crossed her ankles. She was rather calm despite how antsy and anxious her hive was. They didn’t like the idea of the hunter being in the heart of their home, let alone near their queen. It was a plan she had concocted after watching an Earth spider lure its prey to its home before capturing it.

Bombshell nodded, “yes my Queen-Queen. Arachne-ne has the scraplets secured-secured.”

“Good, and Hardshell is ready to summon her?” Fritillary stopped petting the beetle momentarily before continuing.

Again he nodded, this time lightly bumping her servo with his horn. “He is ready-eady.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Optimus and Megatron see how resourceful their friend is.

Chapter 6

Hardshell hated this, even if it was an act. He didn’t suffer with listening to Arachnid for nearly two Earth life cycles only to end up here in this forest. The mech lumbered through the woods, his mandibles clicking as he looked for any sign of Arachnid. The pod bearer had only a chance to either bring the spider to the hive with her cooperation or leading her back without her knowing it was a trap.

The mech stopped in his tracks when he caught a whiff of her scent. He clicked with a growl before transforming quickly, and following the scent. Hardshell stopped outside large tree that had a hole near the base of it. He walked side to side in place as he gave a small cry. This wasn’t good, something was very wrong.

“So, you came crawling back?” Arachnid’s voice came from above Hardshell. He looked up and watched her fall on top of him with her legs pinning him down. “Where’s your precious femme at?”

Hardshell transformed and pushed her off with an armful of energon, instantly catching her optics. “I believe this is an appropriate gift for my _true_ queen?” He felt disgusted with even just saying that out loud. “Several of us have come to realize that she only cares about a world from the past. It’s time to look towards the future.”

Arachnid walked around Hardshell while humming in thought as he spoke. “And how do I know this isn’t a trap? I am a professional hunter.”

“She doesn’t know I’m here. The femme is busy making eggs.” His mandibles clicked as he watched the femme think about it. “If you kill the queen, you’ll have a full hive following you and new Insecticons imprinting on you.”

The spider stopped in her walk and tapped her digits together in thought. “Hmmm, I suppose I could find time in my very busy schedule to kill a nuisance. Especially when they cost me my army. Okay, Hardshell take me to this queen.”

The mech transformed and lifted off with Arachnid following behind. He felt through the hive bond, the egg guardians were excited to have fuel for the eggs that weren’t going to be here for a long while. In the many strands of the hive bond, he could feel his queen’s encouragement, and that encouragement was all it took to keep leading the femme to the nest. When they arrived, Hardshell transformed and landed in the main tunnel with a thud and Arachnid landing behind him.

The crevices lit up with some Insecticons crawling out and chittering with excitement. Arachnid looked around as they crawled back inside their holes in an act of submission. She smirked, liking the power she had over them, unaware that Fritillary was calling them off. “So are these eggs here?”

“Yes, the egg guardians are protecting them.” Hardshell led her down a tunnel to the right. Tri-Gon, Ripsaw, Mothball, and Waspinator were all laying in dug out holes near the entrance in stasis. He stopped her when Waspinator’s thorax twitched. He had to play up the act of wishing to protect the femme, even though touching her made his plating crawl. “We must be quiet or be eaten by them.”

“Eaten!?” She shouted before her mouth was covered by his large servo. Ripsaw’s optics onlined briefly before he turned around and went back into stasis. “They’ll eat us?”

He nodded before pointing to the cave entrance. “I can’t go in, I’ll crush the eggs and online the guardians.”

Arachnid crossed her arms with a look of skepticism. “You expect me to go into a cave by myself? How dumb do you think I am?”

 _I convinced you to come here, didn’t I?_ Hardshell was thankful he had visors and not optics. “Queen recharges with the eggs. Do you want to have the hive or not?”

“If she puts up a fight, I’m making you walking to a volcano.” And with that Arachnid walked in.

Optimus and Megatron met a mile away from Fritillary’s hive, before either could say something they saw four mechs crawl out of the entrance in a massive hurry, going off in different directions. The gladiator grumbled in annoyance, “scouts. What is she doing?”

“That’s what I ask myself when it concerns you, Megatron.” Optimus answered without missing a beat. “Temporary truce?”

“While we question her, yes. Soundwave had some interesting findings when he was touring the hive. There’s one room near the back away from the main system; he said it looked like they were building something.” Megatron explained as they got closer to the perimeter of the hive.

As if sensing them, Bombshell and his clutch mates crawled out in defensive mode. Shrapnel rubbed his horns together until electricity rippled through them. He smacked his horns on the ground in signs to intimidate them. “No visitors-tors.”

“Yes, no visitors-tors.” Bombshell kept his sights on the two and his body on the side of the entrance. “Queen-Queen busy.”

“Protect-ect.” Kickback bounced on his back legs.

“We wanted to speak to Fritillary.” Optimus kept his servos in the air slightly, hoping it would calm the anxious trio.

The leader of the group was about to call for an attack before Scorponok crawled out and had a look of excitement in his many optics. “Full. Safely moved.”

“Queen-een?” Bombshell questioned, but also annoyed that he was forced to leave his queen’s side to tend to these Insecticon killers.

“Cleaning and fueling.” The young pod bearer was trying so hard to not explode in excitement by successfully completing his first season.

Bombshell looked at the two staring mechs before taking a more relaxed stance. He turned around while Shrapnel shook the charge off. “Coders can come.”

The two faction leaders filled the Insecticons inside. They saw how there were two lanes on Insecticons; one going past them with energon crystals and scraps of metal, and the other hurrying past them with nothing in their holds. “What’s going on?”

“Reinforcing nest-est. Squishy machines can-can dig underground-ound.” Kickback jumped beside them.

Both Megatron and Optimus slowed down when they heard screeches coming from a room. Inside there were the egg guardians hungrily eating at entire cars that they somehow squeezed into the hive. Their thoraxes started glowing brightly as they moved onto more fuel. In the middle of them was a large mound that was lined with metal, inside it was a collection of mucus covered objects that ranged from honey-speckled to browns and purples.

“Are those?” Megatron looked at Bombshell with a look of a strange mix of shock and disgust.

“Eggs-eggs. Reason no visits for many months-months.” The beetle answered as he watched with great pride as they watched the egg guardians dig out a hole at the bottom for another to push coals inside.

Optimus didn’t know how to feel about all of this. A part of him was glad that new life was finally here for Cybertron, but the other was worried for Earth's safety against the Insecticons. He didn’t think Fritillary would do anything to harm the planet, but these new lives potentially would be make whole new lives. “What will happen to these new Insecticons? They wouldn’t stay here, would they, as a part of Fritillary’s hive that is?”

“Some would stay as hive-hive.” Shrapnel answered as he tried to get a closer look at the eggs. That was until Waspinator and Tri-Gon landed in front of the beetle with loud screeches. The beetle hissed as he backed up a little, “only look-look.”

Waspinator arched his body with his stinger on full display. Tri-Gon’s own stinger shot out and they used their wingspans to shield them from view. “No, eggs only settled to rest.”

“Fine-ine.” Shrapnel hissed as he backed away, keep his optics on them. The pair lowered their defenses as they backed up to the eggs, going back to tending the newcomers. “Egg guardians-ans won’t let me see-see.”

“Give solar cycle-cycle.” Bombshell informed his clutch mate as they entered the queen’s chamber. He saw her sitting next to the edge of the crater they had used for the oil bath. Her arms were propping her helm while drones were either in the bath cleaning her wings or next to her making soft chittering sounds. “Friends are here-here.”

“Mh?” Fritillary looked up finally with a tired look in her optics. She smiled weakly as she tried to sit up. “I’m sorry for my current state, first times are always unpleasant. I’m told all the eggs are healthy, unfortunately none are future queens.”

“So how many were there? Your companions were not very welcoming towards Shrapnel when he tried to look.” Fritillary slowly rose to her peds, with the assistance of some drones, while Megatron spoke.

She tiredly chuckled at that information. “They are just dedicate to their jobs. My protectors will be able to see them when I do. Now, what brings you to here? And there were twenty-seven.” Fritillary sat on her berth with her protectors chasing the drones off so they could lay with her.

“We were concerned when we hadn’t heard from you for a while.” Optimus doubted Megatron actually was even concerned by how weak she looked at this moment in time.

“I came to tell you that we haven’t heard from Arachnid.” Megatron informed the femme, hearing her short softly caught his immediate attention. “Something funny Fritillary?”

She waved her servos before looking up where Arachne was digging his fangs into a blue cocoon that was the length of a femme. “The scraplets did most of the damage, but Arachne is finishing the job, so she doesn’t rust.”

Megatron showed no expression until he looked at Optimus with wide optics. Optimus looked equally shocked at the sight. Arachne lowered down by a string of webbing, looking like a hunter ready to pounce. The two mechs took a small step back. “Oh, don’t worry, you’re not good looking for a meal.”

“Now why do I find that not calming?” Megatron crossed his arms. “How did you get her? She isn’t, or rather wasn’t, the easiest creature to catch.”

“We simply tricked her and lured her in.” Fritillary gently shook Shrapnel’s horns with a smile. The beetle was buzzing his wings with excited chirps as he tapped his horns together. The femme chuckled at her protector’s reaction from the attention he was getting. “Orion, you’re oddly quiet. Did we disturb you?”

Optimus shifted with a small frown on his face. “To be honest it does worry that you are okay with essentially murder. I know she wronged your hive, but was it worth it?”

“She would have come after the eggs if we had kept her online. If you can’t understand how important this is to the hive, the very wellbeing of my kind, then I would suggest leaving.” Fritillary frowned at her friend with her arms crossed, the four Insecticons with her all whipped their helms in the Prime’s direction.

The Prime stood there for a moment before coming to a conclusion. “Okay then. I hope you know what you’re doing.” And with that he walked out, stunning both the femme and the Decepticon.

Megatron couldn’t believe it, Optimus turned his back on someone who killed a danger to their home. The very thing they’ve been trying to do to each other a millennium. He looked back at the femme that looked distraught, he often got that look when he would kill prisoners in front of each other. “Fritillary?”

“Leave Megatronus, I wish to be alone.” Fritillary stood to turn her back on Megatron. He went to reach out for her, but he quickly stopped that when he saw Bombshell make a movement. Megatron didn’t say anything as he walked out too. Fritillary covered her face to hide her optics.

The three protectors looked at Arachne and the drones present in the room, and they all shared the same thoughts. Fritillary didn’t say anything or try to stop their thoughts. “Queen-Queen going?”

“To see the eggs.” She kept her voice soft.

The collective thought between all the hive members was only one thing. _Prime enemy._


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something threatens the hive, or does it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I commissioned the following art piece from a dear friend of mine; Jigsaw. Here is her IG account(https://www.instagram.com/jigsawthedoc/), so be sure to give her some love!

* * *

Chapter 7

“Hey Ratch' I need repaired.” Bulkhead limped through the space bridge with green goop splattered around his frame, dented in various spots, and a pair of holes in shoulder plating. Beside him was Wheeljack who was in the same boat as he was.

Ratchet looked over at the wrecker with a loud tsk. “What the slag is going on? These are clearly Insecticon wounds, did feral Insecticons make it on Earth?” The medic started cleaning out the bite marks because he didn’t what Insecticon bit him, and it could range from various types of reactions.

“No, the lightning bug was there leading the attack. I thought we were allied with them?” Wheeljack punched the wall beside him when Ratchet poured a sterilizing solution in the bites.

Bulkhead nodded in agreement with his partner. “I think there was at least thirty of them.”

 _They were getting ready for a full on fight?_ Bumblebee beeped in confusion. _I thought Fritillary liked us?_

“She got what she wanted from us, and now they’re going to fight us just like the Decepticons.” Arcee put her servos on her hips with attitude behind her voice.

Optimus had hardly spoken about the Insecticons since he returned from the hive. He had a lot to think of, but he just couldn’t get the thought of Arachnid being tortured like that. The terminal beeped and Megatron’s icon appeared, but before any of the Autobots could say anything Megatron blew up.

“Optimus, do you intend to doom all of us!? I can’t handle ongoing attacks from the Insecticons, and I highly doubt your pathetic team could handle them. I never thought I would have to tell you this, but you need to apologize!” He was silent before alarms started blaring. “What do you mean out engines are down?! For frag sake, shake the Insecticons off!”

The alarms continued blaring before a loud crashing sound and then static. Everyone looked at Optimus who was looking rather upset. Ratchet put his fists on his hips and a deep frown at the Prime. “Optimus, what in the Pits did you do!?”

“I told Fritillary that I didn’t like how the hive handled the Arachnid situation.” Optimus said bluntly, answered with the medic and the Praxians both face palmed at their commander’s response.

“You told… Optimus, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Megatron that you are an idiot.” Bulkhead shook his helm. “It was nice not to have Insecticons attacking us.”

“Hey, does anyone hear that?” Jack looked around after everyone’s silence he finally answered his own question. “It’s quiet. Where’s Miko?”

At the revelation everyone realized that Miko wasn’t in the base. Bulkhead started freaking out that he had unknowingly left his charge in the middle of a mine miles away from the base. In the Insecticon nest, Fritillary was watching looking at her eggs with the egg guardians rehydrating them. She was a bit disappointed that none of them were going to be a princess, but she had to remind herself that to have nearly a full clutch her first time was a blessing.

“Fifteen drones, ten warriors, two egg guardians, and another pod bearer. This is good news for the hive. Hopefully, next season we will have a princess.” Fritillary carefully picked up one of the purple ombre eggs. “You will make a great warrior.”

As if it understood her, the egg shook slightly at her voice. “Cool!” The five Insecticons all whipped their helms to the sound. They looked down to see Miko standing there with her phone in her hand. Her big smile dropped, and she realized that she had been caught. “Uh oh.”

She tried to run, but Waspinator and Tri-Gon landed in front of her with loud hisses. Fritillary sat the egg back down with its clutch mates, and carefully picked up the human. “And how did you get in here? Especially this far back?”

“I sneak around the Nemesis all the time. Don’t eat me please, I just wanted to explore.” Miko struggled in her slightly tight grip.

Fritillary started laughing in her free servo as she opened her other servo to let the girl stand up. “We will not eat you, hatchling. You are one of the humans that was with Orion and his friends.”

“What are we going to do with the human?” Waspinator bounced on his legs while Tri-Gon and the others hurried to the eggs to make sure they remained warm and hydrated.

“She will stay with me for a while, she is okay Waspinator.” The femme folded her wings as she left the egg chamber. “We will have to reinforce the entrance if a sneaky hatchling such as yourself managed to get in.”

Miko looked around in amazement at how many Insecticons were either flying, scurrying, or lumbering around the tunnels. “Woah, there’s so many cool ones! Where did they all come from? How come old bucket head didn’t find them before?”

Fritillary sat the human on the ground and led her to the main chamber, sitting in her throne and Bombshell hurried over to his queen. He hunkered down beside her and watched the human run around, touching everything and would somehow manage to sneak touches to the unaware Insecticons. Some of them would shrill and jump away from the alien touch or they would get in a defensive position with warning hisses before going about their business. “They came from Insecticon hives just like I did. Some were from the hive I originally came from, some from other hives, and some were hatched in this hive. Those that managed to land on your planet with the hive, stuck close while they waited for me. If you are referring to Megatronus, he did not find my hive or my cocoon, it is because Bombshell and his brothers did an exceptional job at hiding our location.”

“So when will there be baby Insecticons running around!?” Miko was bouncing in excitement.

“Twenty moon-moon rotations-tions.” Bombshell and answered bluntly before the Insecticons all stopped as they heard a couple thuds echo through the nest. The warriors and drones all went to the ceiling while Bombshell and his brothers moved to the middle of the room. “Not welcome-come.”

Fritillary remained calm especially when Bumblebee and Miko’s guardian walked in. Miko ran past the three hissing Insecticons to Bulkhead, “Miko, do you know how dangerous this was? This is even worse than when you followed me into a battle zone!”

“But Bulkhead, I wanted to see the Insecticons!” She waved an arm behind her. “Plus, she told them not to eat me. If it was Megatron, then he would have eaten me.”

Fritillary giggled behind her servo at the imagination the human had. “Your friend was safe, I can see why you wish to protect them. Hello again young Bumblebee. Would you like to see the eggs?”

 _Next time, Optimus wants Miko taken home._ Bumblebee beeped while trying to keep calm when he saw the hundreds of glowing optics above them.

Fritillary frowned at the mention of Optimus. She crossed her arms and looked away, the Insecticons all hissed and beat their wings together. “Orion is not welcomed into my hive until he feels like apologizing for being rude.”

“Well you did catch him off guard with eating her in front of him.” Bulkhead tried to smooth things over for the Prime.

“I did not eat her, and we haven’t eaten her yet either. Arachne just put her in stasis until the eggs hatch. I do not see the harm in taking out a threat to my family. You and Megatronus are trying to do the same, no? Taking out a threat for what you believe to be for the best of your people.” Fritillary stood up with her protectors moving back to her side. At one time, “Orion and Megatronus once believed your Council were a threat, and they were going to be our voice to leave our kind alone. Shrapnel, please see our guests out.”

“Yes, Queen-Queen.” Shrapnel transformed to his bipedal form with his horns sparking in warning.

Bumblebee looked behind him to Fritillary sitting back down in her throne. He beeped sadly at the sight before he got a slight zap from the beetle. The Praxian buzzed as he stumbled away from the beetle with his servos going in the air. _I’m going, I’m going._ Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Miko left the room full of angry buzzing Insecticons.

Fritillary looked at Bombshell with a disappointed expression in her optics. “Bombshell, just because Orion upset me, you did not have to attack them or Megatronus.”

“Prime offended Insecticons-cons. Hurt Queen-Queen, had to pay.” Bombshell hissed in a collected anger from the hive. “Decepticons just nuisance-ance.”

“No more attacking them, we will not show favoritism towards anyone. Even if I am upset with one of them.” Fritillary folded her arms with her two remaining protectors following her out of the main chamber. “Would you like to see the eggs?”

“Eggs-Eggs!?” They both perked up at the mention of seeing the eggs. Fritillary chuckled at their excitement. Kickback was eager to see the eggs again, hopefully this time the egg guardians would let him hold one. “Still give them-em eggs?”

The queen looked down at the hopping grasshopper, “we will uphold our part of the deal. It will be a while before we will separate the eggs from each other.”

“Eggs safe-safe with them-em?” Bombshell questioned with uncertainty at the bipedals able to handle raising Insecticon hatchlings. It had been a long time since he had taken care of new hatchlings himself, he could only imagine the struggles the Autobots and Decepticons would have.

“I will leave the care of one of the eggs with Ratchet. He will see to it that the hatchling grows up strong.” The femme stopped outside the egg chamber. The guardians were chewing on energon crystals or sheets of metals as they watched over the clutch. Fritillary walked over to the incubation nest and picked up one of the silver eggs, holding it close to her chest, not caring about the mucous coating it. “This one seems smaller than the other egg guardian.”

“Wassspinator says it happens with half-breeds.” The moth stopped his ravenous eating just long enough to answer before going back to stuffing his mouth with energon crystals.

“You mean they will look like their kind?” Fritillary looked down at the egg with a gently caress.

“Possibly.” Ripsaw answered after hurriedly scarfing down car rims like they were energon sweets. “Physical form won’t stop the hatchling from its duty.”

Fritillary placed the egg back down; Bombshell and Kickback were sniffing the eggs carefully. The femme picked up another egg with a smile at how many memories this had brought her. “It is too bad, that the queen before me couldn’t preform the rest of her duty at the time of your hatching.”

“Queen Spinex-ex would be proud-proud of you.” Bombshell chittered with his wings buzzing in excitement. He gently prodded one of the drone eggs with his pincers. The egg guardians all hissed at the action, but they didn’t move from their spots. “I only touch-touch. I am gentle-tle.”

The queen smiled and stroked the beetle’s helm, “thank you for the compliment Bombshell. Knowing that you believe Spinex would be proud of me, makes me happy.” She let her wings unfurl before going over to each of the egg guardians and kissed the tops of their helms. They all thrilled and buzzed in excitement at the affection. “You all are doing a fantastic job.”

“Thank you, my Queen.” They all bowed their helms with excitement.

Later that night, Fritillary was laying in her berth with her protectors and several large drones cuddling her. She was looking up at the ceiling with a thoughtful gaze. After the eggs were laid, Fritillary had been thinking a lot about the last clutch the previous queen had.

_As a princess, Fritillary was learning a lot from her queen. The current lesson was eggs. She sat on the edge of the laying nest while Spinex was getting ready to have her final clutch. No one else but the egg guardians and Fritillary were allowed in the chambers. “Will I have support from the hive when I have my own clutches? What if they do not accept me when I become queen?”_

_“Do not-not worry little flier-flier. The hive will accept you-you when you become queen-queen.” Spinex rubbed the young femme’s glass wings with a weak smile. “Time is soon-soon.”_

_It was several groons before the queen managed to lay a full clutch, and was extra tired. Fritillary laid with her queen while she was being cleaned up by the drones. The princess watched her protectors hunker down by the entrance beside the queen’s protectors. The butterfly turned her attention to the egg guardians that were thoroughly checking the clutch over, just to ensure they were all healthy. “Your highness, what if I have a bad first clutch?”_

_“You are very worried-ed for something that will not happen for a-a long time-time.” Spinex gave her successor a comforting rub on her wings. Fritillary held onto the older queen; she knew the queen had no coding relation to her, but the young femme saw the queen as her own coder. “Would you like-like to hold one-one?”_

_“I can? Will the egg guardians let me?” She sat up and watched the group of guardians start carrying the eggs out of the queen’s chamber. Spinex nodded with a smile, the butterfly went over to one of the mechs and knelt down with her servos held out. “Can I hold the egg?”_

_The purple beetle glanced down at the egg in his pincers. He carefully sat the put the light brown egg in the princess’s servos. “Careful. Eggs are soft still. Does princess approve of clutch?”_

_Fritillary looked down at the brown egg with a big smile growing on her face. “I can’t wait for this clutch to hatch.” Her coding liked how the egg in her servos looked and felt, which relieved the egg guardian when it was returned to him safely. “I hope to have just as healthy clutches for the hive.”_

_“We will be honored to protect them.” The beetle bowed before hurrying off._

Fritillary sat up in her berth when she felt something off. She smacked Bombshell on the chest, startling him online. “There is something in the nest.”

The Insecticons in the chambers all onlined and buzzed in anger. Scorponok, Shrapnel, and Hardshell stayed with Fritillary while the others left. She stood up and peeked out of the entrance way. Fritillary felt the various strings of the hive bond pull to check if she was safe, none of them were harmed and seemed to be safe as well. Bombshell returned after the loud buzz died. “Earth creature-ture fell in nest-nest.”

“Took it-it back up-up.” Kickback leapt over to his queen. “Hive-Hive safe.”

Fritillary looked back into the long hallway with a servo going to her chin. She felt uneasy about something, but she was brought away from the opening by Hardshell gently dragging her back to the berth. The femme hummed with concern for the hive, especially the eggs. “The eggs are safe, yes?”

“Yes-es.” Bombshell chittered happily and crawled back into the berth with the femme going back into the berth. The berth was soon filled with more Insecticons as soon as Fritillary settled down. “Nest is-is safe-afe.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bumblebee visits the Hive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, well now that I've figured out how to attach pictures, I will add Fritillary, Scorponok, and Arachne lmao
> 
> I commissioned all of the following art from my very close friends. So, as always so them love!
> 
> Scorponok- https://www.instagram.com/jigsawthedoc/

* * *

  
Chapter 8

_“Protect the eggs! No! Stop killing them! Stop! Leave them alone!” Screams filled the dimly lit hallway as Insecticons were fending off heavily armored masked mechs as they shot down the warriors._

_Fritillary and Spinex were being dragged away by Hardshell and the other pod bearers. The princess stopped and screamed in agonizing pain as more strands of the bond were suddenly cut. Spinex saw that one of the poachers had shot several blasts at them, and she in a last minute attempt to protect her hive shielded Fritillary with her own body. This caused all of the Insecticons to shriek in pain._

_“We killed the queen! Let’s get out!” One of the poachers torched several Insecticons as they withered in pain._

_Fritillary was crying as she tried to push the larger femme off of her. She looked around for any Insecticons that were online, but with how painful her spark was feeling and the hundreds of graying forms in front of her, Fritillary had little hope. “Bombshell! Someone! Help me! Kickback! Ah, come on, Spinex please the hive needs you. I need you. I’m not ready, you still have to teach me so… much.”_

_There was the familiar sound of clicking and faint tugs on the bond, sparking the princess’s hope. “Help! Please, I can’t get up!” Fritillary watched as Spinex was dragged off her frame before she was gently pulled upwards by a larger servo. She instantly bursted into tears when she saw her protectors circled around her. The young femme hugged the rhinoceros beetle for the physical comfort. “The hunters, they killed her. They killed Spinex.”_

_“Hunters will pay-pay. Hardshell-shell finding survivors-s.” Bombshell hissed as he felt more bonds disintegrate. He felt his princess shake in agony as it was hurting her more than him. “Princess-cess safe now-now.”_

_Hardshell limped down the hallway with only three small brown eggs. Fritillary gasped in concern, rushing over to the pod bearer and covered her mouth when she saw the small webbing on one of the eggs. “Is… Is this all we could save? Where are the guardians?”_

_“They saved only ten eggs, but they only allowed me near these three because they are damaged.” Hardshell transformed with the eggs in his servos. Fritillary took the most damaged one and held it to her chest. “What would you like to do with them?”_

_The femme sniffled at the sad news, “only ten? No, we will keep them, and we will rescue the others before they hatch. But we need help.”_

_“Help-elp?” Shrapnel skittered over to the femme’s side. “We do not need-need help. Hive can kill poachers-chers.”_

_“With what hive Shrapnel? They came into the hive and slaughtered our numbers. We need help from the other hives. They have to help us.” Fritillary looked at the beetle that was trying to be brave. “Hardshell, send whatever scouts that survived to the hives for help.”_

_Hardshell nodded and clambered off to find anyone that could do the job. Fritillary looked around as the surviving warriors dragged off the dead to the egg chambers. “Kickback, these eggs are too weak to stay with their clutch, but I know they will survive.”_

_“Egg guardian to chamber-chamber?” Kickback was favoring one of his legs and was covering the small gash on his chest. “Hive need medic-medic.”_

_Fritillary noticed that there were a lot of injured Insecticons, and nodded in agreement with her protector. She rubbed her chin in thought before looking up through the opening of the nest. The femme saw the swaying lights from the large cities, the homes of those like the poachers. “Find a healer and bring them to the nest.”_

_“Is it wise-wise to bring their healer here-here?” Bombshell followed after Fritillary to the queen chambers. One of the egg guardians hurried into the large chamber with green goop dripping from his mouth. “What egg-egg guardian doing-ing?”_

_“Eggs need moisture.” The heavily armored egg guardian crawled over to the young princess. The femme carefully laid them in the middle of her massive berth, tucking the soft layered silk blankets around the damaged eggs to protect them. The egg guardian drooled over them, the goop covering them and saturating the temporary nest. “May I stay? They will need moisture every groon.”_

_“Please do. Are the other eggs safe?” The femme had only just managed to sit down on the edge of the berth before Bombshell and the guardian layed their helms in her lap to comfort them._

_It was several solar cycles before Fritillary got news from the scouts saying that the hives refused to help, even her spark hive which hurt the femme that her kind didn’t want to help their own. Kickback returned with not one but three mechs, which sent the hive into defensive mode until Fritillary shot up to her peds. There was a red and blue mech with curious blue optics, a large silver mech with a stern gaze, and the final was a white and orange mech looked around with defensive postures. “Three healers? Kickback, I told you to only bring one.”_

_“Didn’t want to-to come without friends-ends.” Kickback hissed in irritation._

_“Well he refused to leave potential patients to suffer, and he didn’t want to give up the chance of learning from your kind.” The silver one growled with his arms crossed._

_Fritillary frowned at the mention of learning, “have your people done enough damage by nearly killing my hive and stealing all of our eggs? I only wish for healer to fix our wounded.”_

_“I will repair what I can, but these two are staying with me.” The white and orange mech crossed his arms. “I don’t trust you monsters.”_

_The Insecticons all hissed at the disrespect, but the femme held up her servo and they all backed away from the outsiders. Fritillary walked straight for them with her wings opening up, minor webbing in her wings. “The same can be said about you, but you know the poachers better than us. My hive has never killed your kind, we have had one of your own visit us to teach us and he learned from us, which is why we know of your rank. Will you please help us, I only wish to protect my hive.”_

Fritillary onlined to Shrapnel giving her a small zap. She sat up with a startled yelp, “Shrapnel! What was that about?”

“Talking in-in recharge-arge.” Shrapnel answered with concern evident in his tone. “You talk of-of old queen-queen.”

The current queen looked up to see that the sun was nearly above the hole that looked down at the berth from an angle. She folded her legs beside her, and the beetle rested his helm on her lap, hoping the action soothed her. “I am just worried for the clutch. The last time I seen eggs was… I just worry that something will come for the eggs. Am I being irrational Shrapnel?” Fritillary looked down at the mech with worry.

“Poachers will not come-come. All dead, hive-hive is safe.” Shrapnel reassured his queen with nuzzles before their attention turned to see Buzzclaw and Flyzar guiding Bumblebee into the room. The two pod bearers, Scorponok and Hardshell, both onlined and were ready to attack before Fritillary gestured for them to relax. “Autobot-bot should not be here-here.”

 _Why not? Fritillary said I could come whenever, and she is my friend._ Bumblebee flicked his wings with a bit of sass behind the gesture.

The femme laughed in amusement at the Praxian. She gave the edge of the berth a couple pats, Bumblebee knowing to just accept the offer sat in the spot. “To what do I owe for a surprise visit?”

 _What do you plan on doing with Arachnid?_ He tilted his helm with that curious expression that Fritillary remembered from Orion when they first met. _I won’t judge, I promise._

“We will feed her to the hatchlings.” Fritillary bluntly answered and saw the brief startled expression fly across his face before it returned to normal. She laughed behind her servo at his attempt to not look disturbed. “Don’t worry Bumblebee, they will fuel mainly whatever the guardians are able to convert into hatchling fuel.”

 _Do all of you eat bots?_ Bumblebee tilted his helm.

“As hatchlings, yes!” She answered enthusiastically. “But once we become fledglings, then we will be able to consume energon. Some times it is a preference, especially for those with hunter forms.”

 _Like Arachne_. The scout felt that he may be finally understanding them. _How did you guys find scraplets? The last time we had to deal with them, we had gotten rid of them._

“Scraplets duplicate fast. It may be possible that you did not properly dispose of one, and it’s been surviving on whatever it could find.” Scorponok stood up, rubbing up against the berth to get rid of the itching.

 _What’s going on?_ The Praxian buzzed with major concern. He moved away from the scorpion as he kept rubbing against the rough surface. _Does he have rust?_

“Insecticons-cons are clean-clean!” Shrapnel hissed.

“Scorponok is molting which means he is one step closer to becoming a full grown adult.” Fritillary clasped her servos together with excitement in her optics. “This is so exciting!”

Venom crawled into the chambers when he felt himself being summoned. “Yes my queen?”

“Bring some fuel for Scorponok. He will need it. Thank you.” Fritillary looked over at the drone with a smile.

Venom bowed and hurried off. Scorponok wish he could transform, but not in this stage he was stuck and that meant he couldn’t do much except scratch. Hardshell watched the younger pod bearer move to a stalactite and rub the top of himself against the tip.

 _Can’t we help him? He looks miserable._ Bumblebee beeped sadly with his wings dipping down.

“Oh no! That will hurt him. It would be like someone forcing you to transform. No, he will be like this for a bit before he goes to the spring and soaks for about a solar cycle.” Fritillary took Bumblebee’s servo with an encouraging smile. “You remind me of Orion before he took the Council name. Very sweet and curious.”

 _Really?_ The yellow mech looked at her with his optics spiraling with surprise. _I’ve never been told that I’m like Optimus._

“That’s because we view life and passing on our lessons to the youth differently. We wish for the younger generation to take what the elders have learned through their life cycle, and use it to grow and protect the hive. We are our individual selves, but collectively we are one. What one Insecticon does may look strange and confusing to you, but they do it for the hive.” Fritillary turned to fully face the Praxian. “For example, Scorponok wouldn’t have actually molted until after the eggs hatched, but his coding told him that it was time to start early because it can affect the hive’s future.”

“Moving-ing queen dangerous-dangerous.” Shrapnel crawled off the berth, getting tired of being near the Praxian.

 _If moving Fritillary was dangerous, why would you risk it? What if you didn’t make it to Earth?_ Bumblebee looked at the beetle as he transformed.

“Had to-to protect-tect future of the hive-hive.” Shrapnel gestured around with his servos. “Risk willing-willing to take-take.”

 _If you can survive on metal and pests, why not remain on Cybertron?_ This was what confused the scout.

“Because, we had to avoid the war your people were in. It became too dangerous to remain.” Fritillary rose from the berth and held her servo with a smile. “Would you like to see the eggs?”

 _Really?_ The Autobot accepted the servo and stood up beside the femme. Hardshell went over to his pupil’s side, to help him to the spring once he stopped scratching. _You know, you guys aren’t so bad when you aren’t hissing in our faces._

The queen laughed into her servo at the honest comment. “Thank you for the compliment little Bee. I take pride in my hive and our ways.”

Bumblebee looked around in slight awe at how structurally sound the caves looked despite how altered they were. He watched large drones drag a large scrap of metal that literally looked like it had come out of a scrapyard. Fritillary stopped him, giving the drones plenty of space to drag the scrap into the room they were heading into. Upon entering the room, Bumblebee saw the egg guardians enter their insect forms and jump the scrap with excited buzzes and chirps. His optics landed on the large nest with the eggs that actually twitched and had more transparency at the tops of each one. The guardians stopped eating; oral lubricant dripped from their mouths as they buzzed in warning when they saw the stranger.

“Be calm boys, he is here as a guest.” At the command, the guardians returned to their meal. “As egg guardians, they remain in the egg chamber with the clutches and hatchlings. The eggs need to be incubated for a long time, but it also dries them out so to remain hydrated the guardians covers them in a hydrate coating.”

Fritillary carefully handed her guest one of ombre eggs, smiling when he cradled it with curious beeps. Bumblebee lifted the egg closer, almost able to see the Insecticon inside the egg. He jerked the slimy thing away from his face when a very tiny servo with claws pressed against the translucent part of its shell. _I saw a servo!_ The scout looked up at the femme before looking back at the egg. The Insecticon inside the egg turned again and Bumblebee saw a red helm and white helm fins. _Woah, this is so cool! Wait till I tell Raph about this!_

“This little one will be under your team’s care once it is ready to hatch. I sense something great about this one.” Fritillary cupped the top of the egg with a smile, getting the creature inside to move. “He likes you.”

 _How do you know it’s a mech?_ Bumblebee went over to the nest, slowly down drastically when he triggered the Insecticons, and eased the egg back into the nest and stepped away with his servos in the air.

Waspinator stopped eating and flew over to the nest, using his face and front legs to inspect the clutch. He rubbed his mandibles until the viscous goop dripped out of his mouth, landing on the clutch. The wasp picked up each individual egg and covered them before pushing the metal dirt mound tightly around the clutch. Waspinator hurried back over to the scrap and ate it excitedly. Fritillary saw the confusion on the Autobot’s face, and she chuckled at how curious the Praxian was. “Waspinator was just ensuring that the clutch was safe.”

 _I think I understand why you all are so protective of each other. You’re a family, seeing this life-_ Bumblebee gestured at the eggs with his wings moving with excitement. _You have what we have been fighting for. Not seeing the differences in each other as a bad thing._

Fritillary tilted her helm with a small smile at the words she had received. “You are young, but you speak wisely. Not many hold your beliefs.” She cupped his cheek plate briefly before pulling her servo away. Her gaze went over her shoulder, and a mildly concerned sound escaped her. “Well this is troubling. Megatronus is outside the nest.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for babies~~!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fritillary- https://www.instagram.com/theshadowsally/
> 
> My amazing lovely best friend WolfJaw, she made Frits look badass

* * *

  
Chapter 9

Megatron didn’t wait for any of the Insecticons to come crawling out. He was enraged with his friend sending her beasts to constantly attack the Nemesis. “Fritillary! Fritillary where are you!?”

The femme walked down the hall with her wings on full display. “Megatronus, what an unexpected surprise! I was just about to go enjoy some sunlight.”

“We need to talk about your lackeys. They took my ship _out_ of the sky. I had nothing to do with-” Megatron waved a digit in her face with anger stopping him from forming words.

“I’m sorry about them, they were feeding off my energy. I was rather hurt by Orion. If you’d like I can send some drones to assistant in gathering supplies to repair your… ship.” Fritillary put a servo on the digit in front of her, lowering it from her face. “Oh and good news, the clutch is almost ready. In two moon rotations, I’ll deliver the egg to you as promised.”

Hearing this calmed Megatron slightly and he glanced around, seeing that his rage drew the nest to them. He stepped out of his friend’s space and rolled his shoulders to expel some stress. The Decepticon knew he could handle an Insecticon's strength, but not an entire nest of them and some with deathly toxins. “I would greatly appreciate that. I look forward to seeing you and the egg.”

Several drones landed behind Megatron. “They will go with you to help.”

“Thank you, they will be useful.” The silver mech and the drones left the hive. Bumblebee peeked out from the room with a soft beep.

“Yes, it’s safe to come out now.” She turned around with her bottom wings folding down around her waist. “Perhaps you should return to Orion and Ratchet before they become worried. Please tell them that I will wish to speak with them at your base when the eggs are ready.”

 _I’ll let them know. Thanks for showing me them!_ The Praxian beeped with his wings flickering behind him excitedly.

Once all the outsiders were finally gone, Fritillary went for the main chamber where the Insecticons were all buzzing with agitation and were skittering over each other. She did some small turns with a frown, “what’s wrong? No, no don’t worry about the outsiders. I promise they will not be any trouble to the hive. Until our way back to our home world is complete, we will have to remain in good notion with them. Now, please settle down. The eggs will be hatching soon, which means we have to celebrate!”

The riled up Insecticons settled down, but they continued to buzzing with slight agitation that the outsiders felt the need to come to them for everything. Fritillary went for the egg chamber, her favorite place to be because of the clutch. She sat on the ground next to the nest watching them occasionally twitch. “Just a few more lunar cycles, and you’ll get to meet the rest of the hive.”

Fritillary replaced the egg before rising to her peds, her wings flaring up when she felt the anger rise from across all ends of the hive bond. She was surrounded by the egg guardians that were elated to know that their queen approved her first clutch so much. Waspinator buzzed his wings with his mandibles clicking with contentment at being hugged, taking it as a reward for keeping the eggs healthy. “Will we have more clutches?”

“When this clutch is safe then of course we will have more!” She rubbed his helm and antennae with a hum. Tri-Gon and Ripsaw both left the eggs to get attention from the femme. Fritillary chuckled and started giving them their moment of affection. The femme loved this activity just as much as they did because it reinforced the bond. She kissed the top of their helms as they became more affectionate. “Are the scouts bringing you all enough fuel?”

“Yesss, ssscoutsss bring lotsss of metal for usss.” Tri-Gon purred with his mandibles gently tapping around her wrist. The egg guardians didn’t just benefit from the cuddling, it helped cover their scent with their queen’s scent so that the hatchlings are surrounded by the scent of their queen when she isn’t visiting. “Queen approve of chamber sssize?”

“Oh yes, it is perfect. We can’t expand the chamber without it crossing into the food chamber. Are you prepared for the duties of caring for the hatchlings?” Fritillary questioned while repositioned herself under all of the weight. She hummed as she watched the guardians all curl up and go into recharge. The femme leaned against the nest, minding her wings. Fritillary remembered the day that she had hatched, she wasn’t surrounded by the other hatchlings, but she wasn’t alone. She had the queen, Bombshell and the others, and an egg guardian.

 _Hatching was hard and tiring, but she had to do in order to get to the sound. Then soft voices calling her to come out and meet something or someone._ _Like all Insecticons, she had two sharp denta that helped her pierce her shell. She bit and clawed at the soft shell while giving out stressed chirps, wanting out but knowing that she would not have gotten help. It was a long strenuous task before a blinding light scared her back into her egg._

_“Come on little flier-flier. Come meet-eet your hive-hive.” A soothing voice drew the hatchling back towards the hole she had created. She dragged herself out of the egg and gave out loud cries when she could hear the matching cries of her clutch mates. She had two tiny nubs just between her shoulders, it was going to be several more lunar cycles before anything would sprout from them. The goopy hatchling was picked up from the ground and was met with a pair of green optics. “Hello-lo.”_

_Bombshell hurried to his queen’s side and leaned into the hatchling’s space, sniffing her a few times before stepping back and released a loud cry. The hatchling squirmed and released her own cry. “Princess strong-strong. What will hive-ive name princess-ss?”_

_Insecticons poured into the queen’s chamber, buzzing excitedly to meet their princess. The chambers were overflowing with the various classes of Insecticons tripping over each other with hisses. The queen cradled her heir with a smile. Naming of the Insecticons wasn’t just up to the queen, but to the whole hive. “What should we-we name-ame you?”_

_Kickback and Shrapnel eagerly got close to the small femme, pressing their faces against her soft and squishy form. The femme squealed with her tiny claws taking a playful swipe of the mechs’ faces, startling them away from her. “Sharp-arp claws.”_

_“Pretty colors-colors,” Shrapnel cooed while licking the goop off the side of her face. The horned beetle mech chirped when the hatchling giggled and swiped again. The nest all roared in acceptance at how strong their princess was. Spinex looked at how beautiful her colors were, the variant purples, pinks, and blues in her frame. Her optics were a bright green and she looked very much like her coders._

_Spinex lifted the hatchling in the air before releasing a deafening scream. It was the call of a queen who had an heir worthy of the hive. “Tonight-night, we celebrate a new-new birth! Our clutch has hatched-ched with my heir! From this-this moment on this Insecticon-con will no longer be nameless and-and lost. Her name is-is now Fritillary-ry.”_

_Bombshell took his princess, Fritillary, in his arms before shooting up through the skylight of the nest. It was tradition for one of the protectors to take the princess as close to Cybertron’s suns. It was a way for the heir to see what their kingdom was, to know all the different smells, and the suns be the second thing they see after hatching. Fritillary squealed and looked around once her optics adjusted._

_“Princess precious-cious. Bombshell protect-protect.” Bombshell cradled the femme, keeping her safe in his hold. The hive bond with Fritillary wasn’t strong, just like the rest of the newly hatched, but once she was old enough all of the hive would feel how happy she was at seeing the horizon. “Bombshell-shell will love Princess, Fritillary-ary, forever.”_

Fritillary jolted online when she felt movement beside her. She saw the guardians clicking and chirping nervously, they moved around the nest with loud buzzing of their wings. The queen jumped up to her peds, her wings were fluttering behind her with concern of the guardians fueling it. “What’s wrong? The eggs aren’t due for five more lunar cycles.”

“Drone egg has webbing sign of hatching.” Waspinator buzzed with excitement before the mentioned egg started cracking more. Fritillary gasped and knelt in front of the eggs. Her servos curled around the edge of the nest as she watched a large piece of the egg shot across the room. “Oh, come on little one, you can do it.”

Bombshell stopped outside the egg chamber when felt the pull from his queen and the other members. When he was hit with the scent of the egg’s oil membrane filling the room, he knew exactly what it was and knew it was best to not step inside. “Queen summon-mon?” The beetle could only assume what he was called here for, besides seeing the clutch hatching.

“Yes, I wish you to take these two to their respective places. Please do not cause any fighting with them. If we are to prove that we are not monsters, if not less of a monster than them then we need to uphold our deal.” Fritillary rose to her peds when she heard the beetle come to her call. She leaned into the nest and picked up the two eggs, handing them to the mech. The queen could feel the extreme uncertainty from the bond, and she caressed the mech’s face to comfort him. “Bombshell, you know we must do this, or they will start to distrust us. And we can’t have them snooping around thinking we are going to cause a problem.”

“For the hive-hive.” Bombshell collected the two eggs, feeling them wiggle in his arms in anticipation to hatch. He bowed his helm before taking a step back in a moment of hesitation. The beetle didn’t like giving away his hive members to the Autobots and Decepticons, but he knew his queen was right. Especially with how far they have gotten in their building to call more Insecticons to the hive. Bombshell stepped closer to Fritillary; he pressed his helm against her shoulder in place of a kiss.

“For the hive. We will be fine,” Fritillary caressed the mech’s face before placing a kiss on his cheek plate. “I love you my protector. Keep the eggs safe.”

The Insecticon took off for the Autobot base first, not wanting Megatron to think that his queen was gifting him two hatchlings. He stood outside the base with his wings buzzing with agitation until Optimus and Arcee were seen walking through a ground bridge. The femme was ready to fight, but the Prime held his arm out with his face mask opening up. “Arcee, please I don’t want to fight. Bombshell, why are you here? Does Fritillary know you brought the eggs?”

“Yes-yes. Clutch ready-dy to hatch. Bringing egg to-to Autobot like promised-sed.” Bombshell held onto the egg for the Decepticons as he held out the one for the Autobots. Optimus stepped closer to the mech with his servos out, carefully accepting the ombre egg and noticed the webbing right away. “Webbing-ing normal.”

“We will take great care of him. What about the hive bond?” Optimus questioned as he felt the hatchling inside move around. He brought the egg to his chest in hopes being close to his spark it would calm the Insecticon inside.

Bombshell put a servo to his chest, “Hive bond-bond will be weak-eak, but there. Autobots-bots, hatchling’s new hive-hive.”

Arcee frowned at how careless Optimus was being, but she knew that her team wouldn’t be able to handle any attacks from the Insecticons. She joined the mech’s side, her gaze going to the egg. She found it kind of revolting to look at because nothing on Cybertron should be slimy and in a weird transparent orb. “Is it going to hatch soon?”

“Time-ime.” Bombshell looked at the femme with a glare before he looked down at the final egg in his arm when it shook with a muffled chirp. “Hatching-ching. Must go-go.” The Insecticon launched himself into the sky before flying off in the direction of the Nemesis.

Fritillary was holding the first of the hatchlings; he was a small blue mechling with silver accents and a pair of purple visors. He was going to be scout when he was a fledgling. The femme was extremely careful with the tiny Insecticon, excited to see what would sprout from the four nubs on his back. “It looks like Orion is his coder.”

“Alssso flight frame, I predict he will have wingsss like you.” Tri-Gon transformed and carefully took the small chirping form. He rubbed his mandibles as he started convulsing, a long straw-like tube uncurled from his mouth. The hatchling squealed as if he knew what was going to happen. The guardian leaned in close for the small creature to latch onto it. It took a couple weak tugs on the new Insecticon’s part before a runny green liquid slid from the tube and into the hatchling’s mouth. Fritillary turned her attention to a large brown egg that Mothball was staring intently at. The femme knelt beside him, thinking perhaps they had another hatchling on the way.

“Broken,” Mothball’s wings fluffed his wings as he leaned in and poked the egg.

Fritillary covered her mouth with a small gasp at the mention of the egg being broken. “No, there has to be an Insecticon in there.”

“There isn’t, it is empty. If not disposed of soon and left to expand more, it will explode and make the nest smell.” Waspinator knew this news would upset his queen as well as the hive, but these things happened. Sometimes the Insecticons would form but deactivate while inside, hatch and deactivate due to complications, or simply never form. Though ones that didn’t have any Insecticons in them would be a lot smaller than the one that Mothball was dragging out of the nest. He saw the sadness in the femme’s optics and new that she would be set for a while on this loss, but he knew she knew it was their way. The wasp took her slightly sticky servo, from holding the hatchling, and kissed her palm. “Mothball will not let it go to waste.”

“I know.” She cupped the side of the green mech’s helm before placing a gentle kiss on the top of his helm. “You are a good mech Waspinator.”

Tri-Gon sat the hatchling in a separate nest when the sound of a series of cries and chirps. The guardians let their instincts kick in and turned all of their attention on the five eggs, four drones and the pod bearer that broke free from their eggs from left to right. They cleaned and fueled the crying hatchlings before placing them in the nest with their sibling. Two of the drones were deep shades of purple with red optics, and looked like some of the older drones. The other two drones were off-white and light blue visors, they had ground frames each with a set of nubs. Then the pod bearer was uniquely adorable in the queen’s optics; he had a pair of yellow visors, was mainly purple with yellow accents, and several pair of green orbs on his mid-section. He had eight nubs on his arms instead of his back.

“Your coder looks like Arachne, but the pincers suggest Scorponok which is highly unlikely.” Fritillary gave each of her new hatchlings personal attention, knowing this time was precious for her and the hatchlings’ bonds, and for the guardians to see that she accepted each and every one of them. “Once your clutch mates are all hatched, we will pick out names for all of you.”

At the Nemesis, Bombshell was handing over the egg to Soundwave as the two drones dragged large sheets of metal into the air where a whole in the ship was. “Hatching started-ted. Suggest fuel and dry and cool spot-spot, so hatchling-chling doesn’t get hot when it dries-es off-off.”

“Soundwave will ensure the creature doesn’t perish.” Megatron bluntly said before looking back at the progress of his ship being rebuilt. It was bad enough that they had been stranded and exposed for nearly three days, but now he had a useless thing that wasn’t going to be of any use to him until it grew. He was going to let Shockwave figure out how to speed up the process of shedding.

Bombshell clicked in anger, but he wasn’t going to argue with the brute. Now that their debt was paid, perhaps the outsiders would finally leave his hive alone. They had more important things to worry about, like calling any more Insecticons to their location and the smoke coming from his hive. Wait, smoke from his hive? He clutched a servo over his chest plate where his spark was hiding behind. The drones that were rebuilding all fell from the sky with loud cries when a few strands of the bond were cut. “Hive in-in danger.”

The beetle transformed before releasing out an ear piercing scream. Bombshell and the drones took off for the hive. They occasionally lost altitude when bonds either were cut or numbed. When they finally made it to the hive, Bombshell was expecting to find Insecticons or the outsiders attacking them, but the scent he caught was human and he growled in anger. A thick smoke rose from the entrance, taking a small sniff and coughed at the offensive smell. “Careful-ful. Stasis smoke-smoke.”

“How do we get in then? We smell it and we’ll go in stasis.” One of the drones hissed in anger to which Bombshell got in his face with a hiss.

“Ventalation-ation.” Bombshell knew this whole thing was a bad idea! He knew dealing with the outsiders could only end in danger for the hive. No humans would have known to make stasis smoke without dealing with the factions. This was the last straw; Bombshell would make sure that his queen cut all ties with the outsiders once the hive was safely relocated.

One of the other drones transformed and hissed when something rose from the hole. They all hissed and got ready to attack when they saw a basket attached to a helicopter fly past them. Bombshell saw that there were several unhatched eggs being taken away from the hive. The drones took off for the helicopter while Bombshell went inside with a servo covering his face. He let out a several clicks and was rewarded with weak chirps from down the hall. He could see which of his hive were killed and which ones were unconscious from the smoke. “Queen? Where are-are you?”

“Get away from them! Help!” Fritillary’s scream snapped something in not just Bombshell, but the Insecticons that were previously unconscious. The femme was held down by cables that shocked here every time she moved even a digit. The guardians were held down with the same prison, all shrilling as the hatchlings all cried out in fear. “What have we done to you?” Fritillary reacted to the crying of one of the hatchlings and was instantly shocked.

Standing in front of them were several green suited humans that hid their faces behind masks. There was only one human that did not have a mask and we was looking at them with a twisted amazement. “It is amazing how much you act like the bugs on this planet. And these things-” He gestured at the crying hatchlings. “Shoot the screaming ones. We got enough at the base.”

Three of the masked ones took aim at the nest that now had ten hatchlings in it. The guardians along with Fritillary were pulling and tugging as they screamed and cried for the humans to stop. There was a succession of seven shots before there was a shrill before the humans that shot the hatchlings were sent to the ground by the thick mucus. The intruders started shooting in the direction their companions were attacked. Kickback cleared the room, landing in front of the nests with him bouncing on his legs in anticipation of attacks. Shrapnel’s horns were crackling with electricity and aimed his anger at the pinned down humans. The humans screamed in pain and agony for all of five seconds before they were now blackened corpses. Bombshell freed the egg guardians, who were quick to gather all of the hatchlings and remaining eggs before flying out of one of the other tunnels. The beetle ripped the cables from his queen and helped her to peds. Fritillary’s protectors shielded her from the humans’ gunfire; they hissed and shrilled in hopes they would be intimidating to them.

The unmasked human growled behind a clenched jaw when two more of his men were yanked into the air. They thrashed around and screamed, but it didn’t last long when Arachne bit them with his many optics lighting up in reaction to the collection of metals in human blood. “Starscream owes me replacements now.” The man threw down a collection of smoke bombs before running off.

When the smoke cleared, Fritillary moved stiffly to the nest where the graying forms of her hive, her creations, laid. She picked them all up in her arms as her shoulders shook and blue streams fell from her face. The Insecticons, the ones in the room looked at their queen in silence. Fritillary threw her helm back as she let out a loud shrill; when the cry was done, the femme buried her face into the tiny frames as she cried in silence. Bombshell and his brothers stood behind the weeping femme. “Nest compromised-ised. Drones retrieving eggs-eggs.”

Fritillary looked up when Ripsaw returned without the others. Her spark was about to crack again in fear that she lost all of her hatchlings, but the mech gave her good news. “The ones we saved are in your chambers. The other eggs have hatched.”

Her intakes hitched while carefully standing up with her frame stained with energon. She nodded with another hitch, “good, that’s good to hear. And with those rescuing the others, it will be better.” Fritillary looked at the tiny frames in her arms as her sadness was now fueled by anger. And nothing was more dangerous than an Insecticon queen with a vendetta, now there was hell to pay. Her wings flared open as she faced those behind her. “Bring me the heads of this human and Starscream. The humans want to steal and kill from my hive, then they better be prepared to pay the price.” Their visors and optics all flared with Bombshell and his brothers throwing their helms back with loud war cries.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ratchet becomes a momma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I commissioned this artwork from my dear dear deaaaaaaaaarrr friend Doc (that's what I call them): https://www.instagram.com/ninjakirkki/
> 
> So be sure to give them some love! <3

  
  
Chapter 10

Ratchet was looking at the purple ombre egg with extreme anticipation. He had used what scrap metal he could spare to make a shallow nest. Well a nest if you squinted and on some heavy painkillers. The egg was non-stop shaking and when Miko wasn’t constantly squealing with excitement, chirping and cries could be heard inside. Ratchet knew that in the hives, they would let their eggs hatch on their on, survival of the fittest and all, but he was a medic and capable of saving the hatchling inside.

“What are you going to feed it?” Raf questioned as he watched from the safety of Bumblebee’s servo. The youngest human could see the excitement in his friend’s optics.

“That,” Ratchet pointed to a canister that was the same color as energon except their was tiny particles of metals in it. “It’s not the same thing that the guardians would feed them, but it will have the same effect as it.”

The egg stopped moving and Ratchet instantly started scanning it with worry that it was drowning. The sound of cracking and the sight of pieces of shell falling off filled the medic with relief. The Insecticon inside was moving around so much that he rolled upright, causing the oil and energon mixture to pour out into the nest. He squealed in frustration at the fact the shell remained on. Ratchet laughed at the sight before deciding that the Insecticon was hatched enough to just pull the large chunk off of him.

Inside the nest looked almost like a normal Cybertronian, except that his digits were all clawed and the helm fins on his helm were flapping like wings. The hatchling was the same shade of red as Optimus and had the same optics as the Prime, but the bits of white were clearly from Ratchet. The medic started scanning the hatchling to make sure he was alright. There were a choir of coo's and aww's behind the medic which pulled the tiny creature’s attention.

 _What are we going to name him?_ Bumblebee tip toed closer, lower down to give Raf a closer look. _He doesn’t look like an Insecticon._

“He probably has more of our coding than Fritillary’s. It happens no matter the species.” Ratchet was now stuck on how in the pits he was going to feed the staring hatchling.

The hatchling’s tanks rumbled and he was following his instincts. He opened his mouth as he looked up at Ratchet, or in his mind his guardian. Ratchet had an idea, quickly dipped his digit into the canister until it coated in his mixture. He carefully moved his digit over the hatchling's mouth and watched him latch on.

“I still think taking in a sparkling in the middle of a war is a terrible idea.” Arcee crossed her arms as she watched from a distance. Bumblebee was still practically one and Smokescreen acted like a brat most days, but now there was an actual sparkling in their base which meant another mouth to fuel.

“Oh Arcee quit being a party pooper.” Smokescreen went to the other side of Ratchet. He foolishly wiggled a digit above the hatchling. The mechling was still wanting fuel and saw the wiggling digit as an accept source of fuel. He jumped up and bit the dangling digit with his helm fins fluttering. Understandably Smokescreen’s first reaction was to pull his servo back, but Ratchet was quick to react by gently prying the tiny mouth off. “Ouch! Why the slag did he bite me!?”

“He’s hungry, what do expect him to do?” Wheeljack called out from across the hangar, wanting to keep his distance from the Insecticon.

Optimus finally returned from his patrol, coming to a halt to see the small crowd around Ratchet followed by hearing the chittering. “The egg hatched?” Those that were surrounding the medic parted so their commander could get a closer look at their new member. The hatchling wrapped his limbs around Ratchet’s servo and wrist as he sucked the energon off the digit. “He looks functional. Will you be okay caring for him?”

“I’m sure as Pits not trusting Wheeljack and Bulkhead to take care of him! And then Smokescreen would more than likely taking him on joy rides!” Ratchet waved his free servo in the air. The medic knew he may have been old, but he wasn’t insane. He lifted his servo up to see how much of a grip the hatchling had. The second his frame wasn’t touching the goopy nest, the hatchling tightened his hold. “He is perfectly healthy from my scans. Still needs a name though.”

The hatchling stopped his fueling and looked around at all his new hive. None of them smelt like a queen, which made him sad but he figured these strange hive mates were good enough. He chirped with his helm fins fluttering again. Bumblebee lowered in front of the hatchling and swirled at how cute he was.

“Ooh, ooh,” Miko waved a hand in the air in excitement, “what about Destructor!”

Ratchet was quick to ignore Miko’s suggestions. He found it important to find something that spoke to a bot's spark. The hatchling rose his tiny servos, his left one transformed and a white nozzle replaced it. He held it up and giggled before putting it in his mouth, expecting energon to come out but he was greeted with a jet of water sending him flying backwards and water flying around the room. Everyone shouted when they were sprayed with the cold liquid.

“Ratchet, shut that thing off!” Smokescreen shouted at the medic.

“Wow, if only I had… thought of that!” Ratchet threw up his arms in front of his face when it was his turn to get sprayed. “Okay you little bugger, transform your slagging servo.”

The hatchling continued his wailing from nothing scaring himself and being yelled at by his nest. Everyone covered the sides of their helms and heads to muffle the cries. Ratchet groaned at how ridiculous this was becoming, and dipped his digit in the energon and carefully put it in range of the hatchling’s mouth. The cries stopped almost instantaneously and the nozzle was replaced with the servo again.

“Primus, what the slag was that? Sparklings don’t know how to transform until their fourth upgrade.” Bulkhead asked Ratchet while wiping his optics.

Smokescreen looked down at his chest plate in utter distraught. “My paintjob! Do you know how long it took to get it looking good?”

“No one cares about your paintjob, Smokescreen. Look at the equipment, it’s going to take ages to dry.” Arcee pointed at the dripping terminal. “Looks like we’re out of a ground bridge… again.”

“Everyone, calm down. Our new friend did not mean to do this. He is not entirely like us, remember Bulkhead. I will have to ask Fritillary about Insecticon hatchlings.” Optimus stood behind the hatchling, watching how Ratchet was more concerned about hatchling than the team or their equipment. He knew his friend had missed having patients that didn’t have Autobot or the rare Decepticon insignia on them. “Is he okay?”

Ratchet grabbed a cloth that had been hidden from the torrent that came from the hatchling. He started drying him off carefully, making sure that there was no damage. “He just scared himself. Don’t think he was expecting a gush of water exploding in his mouth.”

“That looked like it was strong enough to take out a fire.” Jack casually stated after shaking his hair out.

Raf dried his glasses off with what dry part of his shirt he could find. “More like extinguishing an inferno.”

Ratchet stopped his examination when the hatchling’s fins twitched. He whipped his helm to the younger boy, “what did you say?”

“Uh I was just saying that his water power was strong enough to take out an inferno.” Raf was confused by the medic’s question. “Why?”

“Perfect!” Ratchet scooped the mechling into his arms and faced everyone. The hatchling was gnawing at the digit still in his mouth, trying to get more energon. He froze with Ratchet’s digit hanging out his mouth when he saw everyone staring at him. “Everyone, meet the newest member of the Autobots, Inferno.”

Ratchet groaned tiredly as he dragged his peds across his tiny quarters to the crying hatchling. This was the fourth time that night that Inferno onlined to low tanks. He grabbed the cube and started the digit dip routine. Only a quarter into the cube and Inferno was curling into Ratchet’s frame. Ratchet’s cold interior was melting away when he watched the tiny helm fins flex when he was in deep stasis. “Slag can’t let the fools see that I think this is adorable.”

The medic went to set him in the nest, but the second the tiny creature was peeled away from his frame he would start onlining. Out of panic and his desire to recharge more than half an hour, Ratchet decided that only for tonight would Inferno recharge with him. He also said this nearly a week later. Inferno had gotten very good at getting his way with his nest. All he had to do was cry and he got fuel or something his guardian called ‘a bolt'. He was sitting on a table watching his egg guardian mess with a weird thing and was looking for something.

“Where did I put the slagging screwdriver?” Ratchet was looking in drawers, under everything, and when he was about to give up Inferno chirped. “Not now Inferno, I need to find something.”

Inferno huffed with a tiny buzz before grabbing the thing that was sitting beside him, and threw it at his guardian. Ratchet shouted as he stood up, gearing up to scold the hatchling, but he saw the screwdriver lying there in the floor between his peds. “Oh,” he picked it up and saw the look of needing approval, “thank you, but don’t throw things.”

The hatchling perked up with his helm fins fluttering at the praise. He didn’t know what any of the things was, but he knew his guardian needed it to get the weird thing fixed. Optimus walked over to the pair; Inferno's processor catalogued him as a warrior. “Hello Inferno, Ratchet. How is Inferno doing? He won’t eat any of your tools, will he?”

“Don’t be absurd Optimus, I made sure he was fueled before even bringing him out of my quarters. He’s better at listening to me than Bulkhead, Bumblebee, or Smokescreen combined.” Ratchet started loosening one of the screws along the side of the screen casing. “Did you need something because I’m busy trying to fix my medical equipment.”

“I was going to offer taking Inferno, so you could focus.” Optimus gestured at the hatchling who was entertaining himself with hammering the area around him with a small hammer. Inferno stopped hammering when he felt someone watching him. He chirped and smiled when he saw the smile from Optimus. “I see he’s at the mirroring stage?”

Ratchet scoffed with an amused laugh, “Trust me, it was hard not to hit Wheeljack for leaving his bombs within reach of Inferno. He’s already thrown things at me to get my attention.” The medic took the hammer from the tiny servo and replaced it a spare bolt he found in a drawer. “You can take him if you want.”

Inferno squealed when Optimus carried him away from Ratchet. His coding saw this as bad and he started struggling and crying. The others covered the receptors from the pain. Bumblebee took Inferno, thinking he as helping, but Inferno only cried louder. Ratchet snatched the screaming Insecticon and Inferno stopped when he smelt the medic. “Okay, let’s try this again. Inferno, Optimus is only going to hold you. No more screaming.”

“Ratchet, he’s a sparkling, he won’t know what you’re saying.” Arcee was less annoyed and easily set off after being around Inferno for a week. He looked a lot like their kind and less of an Insecticon, except a few of the common Insecticon habits.

“He’s smarter than you give him credit for.” Ratchet gave him back to the Prime. Inferno gave a soft whine as he reached for Ratchet, but he didn’t fight anymore. “See, smart. Now I need to focus on fixing my equipment.”

Wheeljack and Bulkhead both chuckled to each other, thinking they were being quiet, but the wrench to Bulkhead’s helm was enough of a clue that they were indeed heard. Inferno wiggled around to face Optimus. He clicked and chirped at him as he patted down his face. Optimus wasn’t sure what he could be looking for, but he seemed to be enjoying himself so the Prime didn’t see the need to stop him.

Inferno's servo transformed into the nozzle again, and everyone was gearing up for another bath, but he seemed content to just lightly smack Optimus’s shoulder with it. “What is he doing?”

 _It looks like he’s copying Ratchet._ Bumblebee pointed to Ratchet who was using the back of the screwdriver to hammer a small piece of plastic into place.

“Oh great a mini Ratchet. No way, he’s gotta learn how to be cool like me!” Smokescreen reached out for the red hatchling, but Inferno had other ideas. He wrapped his limbs around the Prime’s upper arm, his tiny claws digging into the plating. They were long enough to cause any actual damage, but there would be bits of paint missing.

“Uh I don’t think he wants to leave, Smokey.” Bulkhead pointed out while Smokescreen was crossing his arms with a huff. Bumblebee went up to Inferno with a happy chirp, Inferno sniffed the air and leaned in close to the Praxian but kept a hold of the arm. He chirped excitedly with his helm fins flexing; he recognized that smell! It was the smell of his queen. Inferno practically jumped into the shocked scout’s arms, and started sniffing his neck cables and chirped with excitement. “Probably hates flashiness?”

“He smells Fritillary!” Ratchet left his equipment out on the table to air out. He pulled out the crystal the femme had given him, and held it in sight of the mechling. Inferno thrilled excitedly as he reached for it. Ratchet gave it to him and the mechling was rubbing it against this face like a cat with catnip. “A queen’s scent affects Insecticons, no matter what stage they are in. A tree could be covered in her scent and he’d cling to it.”

Jack looked over at Ratchet with a confused look on his face. “So Bee is his new queen?”

The wreckers both doubled over laughing while Ratchet carefully took the mechling from the buzzing scout’s arms. “No, he just smells safe to him. Remember, despite how much he looks like us, Inferno is still an Insecticon and acts on instincts. His coding has most likely ranked us in different categories based on how we act.”

Inferno pulled himself onto his peds with his servos braced on Ratchet’s shoulders. He sniffed the air, not sure what he was looking for but he wanted to find it. He sat down with a whine. “He won’t go back to them, will he?” Miko stopped her drawing to look at the Autobots.

“No, we are his family.” Optimus informed the human. “Inferno more than likely sees us as his hive and despite having relations to Fritillary, he wouldn’t go back to them.”

Ratchet took the crystal from Inferno. The hatchling was bored and wanted to play, but everyone was too big. The medic hummed in thought before taking an encouraging intake. “Smokescreen, can I trust you to be responsible? Inferno is bored and you have more energy than anyone else.”

“Really?!” Smokescreen perked up with a sparkle in his optics before he reigned himself in when he realized that he had gotten in the medic’s space. He nervously chuckled as he stepped back a few feet. “Heh, whoops.”

“No driving with him, do I make myself clear? If I find out that you took him driving, I will take your wheels off and pop them while I make you watch.” Ratchet said with that tone that he would make good on his promise. He handed the Insecticon to the petrified elite guard before smiling at the two. “Have fun.”

Inferno looked up at the white mech with a confused chirp. He also smelt like a warrior, but he looked scared. Smokescreen finally snapped out of his fear and decided to go take him for a walk around the base. He looked down at the chirping hatchling in his arms. It felt like every five steps Inferno would stop clicking so he could sniff the air. Given Smokescreen hadn’t been around younglings since he was a youngling himself, but he didn’t remember smelling the air. Inferno was getting even more bored, and wanted to do something before he found the warrior’s arm entertaining.

“Okay, wanna go outside? At least then you’re not stuck seeing gray and beige walls.” Even Smokescreen found this walk boring. He wanted to go drive, but he couldn’t do that if Ratchet destroyed them. The Praxian halted in his steps before a smile formed on his lips. “He said I couldn’t drive _with_ you, but he never said I couldn’t drive while you watched. Come on kid, we are going to have actual fun.”

Ratchet finally finished fixing his equipment and was cleaning up the mess before he realized that it was oddly quiet. He checked his chronometer and noticed that it had been a couple hours since he let Smokescreen watch Inferno. Which also meant it was about time for Inferno to fuel. The medic commed the Praxian.

::Hey Doc, need something?::

::Yeah the hatchling. It’s time for Inferno to fuel, where are you?::

::Uh… just thought the kid would like to smell different things.::

::Is that your cooling fans going off?! If it’s that hot why are you outside?!::

::It’s not that hot, only about eighty. And Inferno is fine.::

::Then why… ARE YOU DRIVING WITH HIM!?::

::I’m not driving with him. Just you know, driving… circles around him.::

Arcee and Jack were returning from patrol when they saw Smokescreen staring at a pile of rubber in distraught. Inferno was clapping and laughing at Ratchet grumbling to himself. “Uh what happened here?”

Bumblebee pointed at Smokescreen. _He felt the wraith of Ratchet._

“He wasn’t even inside!” Smokescreen complained one last time. “And those were brand new tires.”

“With him means at all! Especially in this heat!” Ratchet was about to throw another tool at the elite guard, but he saw the big blue optics staring at him and he chose to just carry Inferno out of the room and to his quarters. “Idiots don’t know how fragile sparklings are.”

Inferno found his guardian funny, his coding told him that guardians were always super protective, but he found this one really funny. Ratchet sat the hatchling on his berth before turning his attention to making Inferno’s energon. Inferno crawled to his nest and climbed inside; he scrambled under the thermal blanket so that only the tips of his helm fins poked out. The medic turned back around and jumped when the berth was empty.

He heard the soft chattering coming from the nest that he had moved to the table beside his berth. The medic rolled his optics with a small chuckle. “At least you know not to get into things. Inferno, I got your energon.”

At the mention of energon, Inferno shot up with the blanket caught on his helm fins. Ratchet had to cover his mouth to stifle the laugh. He sat at the head of his berth, dipping his digit into the energon, then offered it to the chirping hatchling. When Inferno was done fueling, Ratchet looked at the empty cube in astonishment.

“An entire cube? Scrap talk about an appetite.” Ratchet sat the cube on the ground before gently laying the red mechling down. Inferno squeaked in confusion on what was going on. He knew it was too early to recharge. “You stay here, don’t move. I will be right back.”

Ratchet covered him up and went for the door. He stopped to look over his shoulder, and saw the big optics staring at him in distress. Inferno gave out a stressed whine with his clawed servos reaching for his guardian. “No, Inferno. We have to look for more energon. Do you understand? You stay here and I will be right back.” The hatchling was silent when the brief beam of light disappeared behind the closed door.

An invisible spear went straight through Ratchet’s spark when he heard the loud cries and very Insecticon sounding screams come from his quarters. He couldn’t take Inferno with them and he couldn’t leave the humans to watch him, because Inferno would more than likely try them. He tried to remind himself that it was better, safer, for him in there. It was nearly eight hours later and everyone came back with only little bits of energon, enough for them to get by but not to comfortably fuel themselves.

“Hey Ratchet, can you check out this kink in my shoulder?” Wheeljack rolled the shoulder after tossing his load onto the floor.

“Yeah, I need to check on Inferno.” Ratchet wasn’t entirely sure what Wheeljack had asked him, all he had heard was his name. He pressed his receptor against the door to hear silence. “He did manage to get some recharge, good. Inferno, I’m ba- ”

When the door slid open, the medic was in a state of shock. There were scratch marks on the floor, parts of the wall, thermal blankets were shredded, tools had bite marks, Inferno's nest had a large hole in the middle of it, and his berth was currently being shredded by the hatchling. “Inferno! What in Solus Prime are you doing!?”

The hatchling stopped his mischief and hissed at his guardian. Ratchet saw the full Insecticon side of him for the first time since he hatched. Inferno was on all fours with his helm fins buzzing and he was hissing very much like the Insecticons. He slowly walked closer to him, more worried about the hatchling hurting himself.

“Whoa, what happened here?” Ratchet looked over his shoulder to see Wheeljack and Smokescreen standing behind him.

“The kid did all this?”

“It would seem that way. Now go away before you scare him more.” Ratchet lowered to one knee before extending his arms out. Inferno backed away with a hiss. “Come on Inferno, it’s okay. I’m back now. No more room.”

Inferno crawled closer to his guardian. He climbed into his arms, hugging Ratchet’s neck with scared chirps. Ratchet stood while comforting the mechling with soft hushes. The medic glared over at the smirking wrecker and the snickering elite guard. “You say anything about this and I will make you both regret functioning.”

Having already faced the wrath of the medic, Smokescreen was already down the hall. Wheeljack didn’t give much of a reaction to the threat. He entered the room and started picking up the shredded blankets. “I thought Insecticons could handle enclosed spaces?”

“With others around. They are a social species remember?” Ratchet moved Inferno to his back, waiting for him to get somewhat of a grip on his frame before cleaning up. “I assumed being in here surrounded by familiar smells would be comfort enough.”

Wheeljack held up a broken datapad with an optical ridge rising. “Obviously not. Slag he did all this? Did he eat any of it?”

“I would assume he did manage to consume of it, but from the look of things he just broke things in pieces.” Ratchet and Wheeljack tossed unsalvageable items into a pile in the middle of the floor. “Now what to do with these scratch marks. Ow, frag!”

The wrecker looked over at the medic with a brief wave of concern. “What?”

“All this clawing sharpened his claws.” Ratchet touched his shoulder to check for any energon. “I may have to file them down.”

“Why? Isn’t that going to hurt him?” He asked as he watched Ratchet reach behind him, setting Inferno on the ground.

The engineer had to admire how he could move around with such ease while something so small was practically under his peds. Inferno sat down beside the pile of trash, clearly tired of chasing after his guardian. He looked up at Wheeljack with a soft chirp, trying to decide what he was. He smelt funny to him, but also oddly familiar. Wasn’t quite like the way Optimus familiar scent. To him, Wheeljack smelt like home, but not at the same time.

“If you hadn’t noticed he likes to put his servos near faces, that includes himself. He could accidentally scratch himself if he isn’t careful. Only other option we have is to put caps on them, and I have a feeling he’d eat them off.” Ratchet crossed his arms while Inferno dug a hole in the trash pile. “Inferno, what are you doing?”

He looked up at his guardian with an innocent expression. A shred of cloth draped across his face. Inferno looked back at the start of his hole with a small chirp then back up at Ratchet. He thought it was pretty obvious what he was doing. He was making a nest for his home for him and his guardian to recharge safely. Inferno pulled at Ratchet’s ped before going back to digging.

“Aren’t sparklings supposed to just you know… exist?” Wheeljack questioned as he heaved the desk chair upright.

“You know for being in a team that handled more Insecticon hives than I have my entire functioning, you don’t know a lot about them.” Ratchet lowered to the floor with a groan. “Before the war, after Megatron, Optimus, and I helped Fritillary’s hive we spent a while with them. They needed mostly my help, but I refused to help without Megatron and Optimus with me. From what I could gather, around time of the eggs hatching, they are separated based on what their egg is. Then after they’ve hatched, they learn from the adults around them what their job is.”

“So the kid’s job is to… dig?” The mech sat on the opposite side of the pile. Inferno stopped digging to thoroughly examine the shard of metal that caught his optic. He looked at it and sniffed it before going to put it in his mouth. Ratchet was quick to take it and shake his helm, showing Inferno that it wasn’t edible.

“No, if I remember correctly Bombshell said that his class is warrior or something like that. He’s probably doing this based on instinct.” Ratchet watched how focused Inferno was even how small he was. The hatchling’s torso was completely engulfed by the trash by the time he crawled back out with a bolt in his mouth. He spit it into his mouth, offering it to Ratchet with a series of chitters. “Oh, uh thanks Inferno.”

“Well we were busy exterminating, not researching their social habits.” Wheeljack rolled his optics with a smirk when Inferno handed the bolt to the medic. “At least the kid is smart. What are we going to do when he gets bigger? We don’t exactly have enough energon to fuel a growing Insecticon.” The wrecker reminded the medic.

Inferno’s helm fins flickered when he started laughing at Ratchet. The pair didn’t know or see what was causing the hatchling to laugh. He covered his face as he laughed even harder; it got to the point that Inferno fell backwards laughing so hard. Ratchet shook his helm with his own laugh. “Well whatever is running through that mechling’s processor, must be highly amusing.”

Inferno was picturing Ratchet eating scrap metal and spitting it out like he had done. The hatchling wondered how long it would take before his guardian found the pile of spit up scraps that he buried under his berth. Once the laughing calmed down, he rolled onto his knees and started clicking his glossa. After every other click he opened his mouth and waddled in place.

“Okay, okay you’re hungry.” The medic and wrecker stood up slowly. Ratchet held his arms out for Inferno. The hatchling crawled to him with happy chirps that turned to squeals when he was lifted off the ground. Inferno’s fins flexed when he was finally carried out of the room.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soundwave protecc baby from all except from Shockwave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I commissioned the following piece from another dear friend of mine; Rino: https://www.instagram.com/rinovarka/
> 
> I am so glad I have found a way to attach artwork to my posts now lmao. So be sure to give her some love and support! ^^

  
  
  
Chapter 11

“So, what does it do?” Knockout poked at the egg that was sitting on the repair berth. Soundwave stared down at it with extreme amusement because he knew that Megatron wasn’t going to take care of it. He would not entrust the Insecticon to Starscream, which meant the Insecticon was going to imprint onto him.

The egg wiggled, causing Knockout to jump into Breakdown with a shout. The blue mech laughed at his partner’s reaction as he straightened him out. “What’s wrong, Knockout? It just moved.”

“What if it eats my paint!? And it’s slimy!” The medic was disgusted by the creature before it even hatched. Knockout pushed Breakdown in front of him, using his partner as an obvious shield when a large piece of the egg bounced off the table. Another piece flew across the med lab, hitting a Vehicon in the face—a tiny dark purple arm shot of the hole and soft chirps filling the silence. No one moved while the egg shook harder with cracks appearing faster. The egg shattered around the hatchling, revealing a small purple mechling with three pairs of pairs on either side of his tiny torso, with a face as the main focus of his chest plate, and four-wing nubs on his back.

The mechling was a deep purple with bright green accents; he didn’t take after Megatron, let alone any of the Autobots that Fritillary possibly mated with, Soundwave could already tell. He was going to have a flying alt mode, that much was possible from the wing nubs. It wasn’t until the green visors that hid the optics did the spy see Megatron in the mechling. Behind those green visors was a pair of green optics that held a cold stare that looked ready to take out anything in its way. The taller Decepticon took only half a step towards the creature before he whipped his head in Soundwave’s direction and started hissing at the much older mech.

“We got a killer there, Knockout, why don’t you go pet it?” Breakdown teased as he nudged the resisting mech towards the table. Soundwave grabbed the hatchling just moments before Knockout went flying for the goop covered table. The medic shouted as he started ranting at the laughing ex-wrecker. “Oh, come on, Ko, it was a joke. Look, Soundwave is taking the thing out of here.”

“You are cleaning this mess up, Breakdown! I refuse to work in these conditions!” The mech threw his arms around to emphasize his meaning. Knockout didn’t care about the hatchling; he was thanking Primus for having both of the creepy things out of his med bay. “If this medbay isn’t cleaned by the time I get back from washing all of this goop off, I will make you wax me!”

Breakdown rolled his optics with a slight chuckle, fully aware that he would be doing that regardless. “Whatever you say, boss.”

Soundwave carried the still hissing mechling to his quarters while Laserbeak was off gathering supplies for the hatchling. He sat the hatchling down on the floor in the middle of his quarters once the door was sealed shut. The two just looked at each other as if they were in some intense staring contest. It had been several millennia since he had been around anything considered young for his kind. The hatchling’s tanks rumbled, and Soundwave knew right away what was about to happen. Out of an actual moment of panic, the spymaster launched out one of his tentacles and gave it to the Insecticon.

The hatchling didn’t know what it was, but he did whatever it was gave him fuel. He could tell that this thing in front of him was not a guardian. None of the weird things were like him. His coding was looking for his queen's scent, but her scent wasn’t anywhere near him. The Insecticon wrapped his many limbs around the tentacle and latched to the trio of tiny tendrils with eager tugs. Soundwave tilted his helm at the bizarre sensation. The spy played a quick recording of Insecticon sounds he had collected when he was in the nest with Megatron.

The mechling looked around with chirps and clicks. Soundwave lifted the purple and green mech to his level, examining him for any flaws. The Insecticon stared at Soundwave in an unwavering gaze before the sound of the door sliding open, scared him. Laserbeak flew over the table that was pushed against the wall, dropping off a datapad before reattaching to Soundwave’s chest plate.

The avian and mech had a silent conversation before Soundwave nodded in agreement. He went over to a panel near the back of his quarters and placed his servo against it. There was a soft hissing sound before the gray panel to the left of Soundwave’s servo popped out and slid upwards. The Insecticon turned to face the hole in the wall, hissing at it defensively with all of his servos arching up to look scary.

Inside the panel were a light blue powder in a bag and a small cube-shaped object. It was times like these that Soundwave was thankful he had extra limbs. He grabbed the cube, sending it into his washracks. When it came back, it was half full of water. With his other appendage, he poured a small amount of the powder. He swirled the cube a few times before the mixture was now a bright blue color.

The Insecticon started switching back and forth between opening his mouth and sniffing the air. The spy cradled the Insecticon in one arm and slowly lifted the cube with the other. It took a few tries, and Energon everywhere before the Insecticon figured out how to drink from the cube. Soundwave looked over at the door when a warning about his terminal being touched popped up on his mask. The spy found Starscream’s attempted snoopy nothing more than a nuisance. He transferred the Insecticon to his tentacles, carrying the creature behind him.

As he entered the bridge, all optics were on him because of the tiny thing behind him. Megatron said nothing about their new predicament but kept his optics ahead as he spoke to his trusted ally. “Soundwave, updates on the ship repairs.”

Numbers started flying across his mask as a diagram of the Nemesis appeared. Nearly all of the ship was marked with a green checkmark except for the top deck. He pulled up a live video of the ship, scattered across the top were small craters where the Insecticons had rammed into them and started eating away.

“Why don’t you kill the femme and take control of the Insecticons? You have commanded them before.” Starscream questioned his commander. Soundwave recognized this speech pattern, and the Seeker commander did something, now it was up to Soundwave to figure it out.

Laserbeak detached and flew off quietly while Soundwave went over to his terminal to work. The Insecticon in his hold was curled up, recharging while wrapping tightly around the appendage.

“With an actual queen, they are out of my way and are easily controlled. Kill the queen, and they will kill you. And unless you wish to end up with the same fate as Fritillary, I suggest leaving them to their own devices.” Megatron also didn’t want Starscream going anywhere near that hive. As long as he had Fritillary in his control, then he had the hive. “Soundwave, Shockwave will be taking the Insecticon back to Cybertron to take care of it once he has finished setting up for it.”

Soundwave looked over his shoulder at the recharging mechling. It went against his coding, but his loyalty to Megatron forced him to obey without question. He looked back at his Lord and nodded stiffly. Starscream walked over to the visored mech and went to poke the recharging mechling, but the Insecticon had other ideas. He onlined quickly and lunged at the digit near him, clamping his mouth around it hard. Energon started dripping from his mouth. Starscream had been screaming and flinging his arm around while trying to pry the mechling off, but it only caused him to hold on tighter.

“Get it off! Get it off!” Starscream continued to scream and throw his arm around. Soundwave punched the Seeker in the face, startling the flier into stilling long enough for the spy to grab the Insecticon away from the now injured mech.

The purple mech played a recording for Starscream. “I suggest leaving them to their own devices.” Soundwave placed the Insecticon against his shoulder, using his actual servo to keep him in place while using his free servo and both appendages to type away.

“The thing tried to eat me! Lord Megatron, I suggest we-” Starscream was met with a tyrant's menacing glare.

“I hope you were not just about to suggest we kill the creature, Starscream. Because if it was, then I can have Soundwave give you sparkling duty until Shockwave is ready.” Megatron got into his second’s personal space and growled with a warning.

Starscream had to bend back slightly, his wings dipping down, and he started stuttering like a fool. “Y-Yes L-Lord M-Meg-Mega-t-tron. I mean n-no L-Lord M-Mega-tron.”

“Soundwave,” Megatron stepped away from Starscream in triumph for putting the mech in his place again. He went over to the Insecticon that was scraping his tiny denta against the mech’s shoulder plating. “We will have to think of a name for the creature. Think of one and teach it to respond to it.”

Soundwave nodded with his demeanor utterly unphased by the fact that he was being gnawed on. Laserbeak finally returned by the time he finished up his work, and the Insecticon had fallen into stasis after refueling some more. She reattached and gave her partner everything she had seen. The spy looked over at Starscream, knowing he had something to do with the hive's sudden inactivity, but he had no proof. Until that fact changed, he was going to keep this information to himself. He slipped out of the bridge, going for his quarters to give the hatchling some peace and quiet. On top of caring for a young spark, he now had to name him, and he was no expert at name-giving. His symbiote gave Soundwave a few suggestions, but none of them fit the hatchling. He could name him after one of the Insecticons. It wasn’t like the hatchling was ever going to meet the others of his kind.

Going through a list of all of the Insecticons and used any possible recording he had of the names, and if he didn’t have a reliable recording, he would splice one together. There was no reaction from the recharging mechling on the recharge slab that Soundwave had carefully transferred him to. Until he played one of the spliced recordings, the wing nubs twitched slightly. Soundwave tilted his helm and played it again. This time the Insecticon squirmed with tiny chirps. He lowered to his knees and got close to the mechling and spoke softly.

“Flyzor.” The mechling onlined with a soft squeak. Soundwave nodded and played the recording of the new name again, getting an excited chirp this time. Soundwave nodded before playing a recording of Fritillary, and oh boy the reaction he got from Flyzor was almost as instantaneous as if he had used a recording of Optimus to an Autobot prisoner.

Flyzor was trying his hardest to sit up to look for the Queen. He started flailing when he couldn’t get himself into the right position. Going limp after many unsuccessful attempts, letting out a high-pitched scream. Soundwave sat the hatchling up and played the recording of Fritillary again. The mechling looked at the older mech in front of him with a series of chirps. He hugged himself to Soundwave’s face.

It was nearly an Earth week before Shockwave came to take the hatchling away. Flyzor was hanging onto his guardian’s back as he hissed at the scientist. Shockwave looked at Soundwave with an unphased expression that matched his. “Lord Megatron ordered me to take the creature back to Cybertron. Earth is no place for a youngling. You wouldn’t want another mishap, and lose another one like in Stanix, don’t you Soundwave?”

The spy reached behind him, grabbing Flyzor’s hissing form, holding him out to the scientist. Shockwave went to grab him, but Soundwave grabbed the purple mech by the neck. “Flyzor.” He released Shockwave, allowing the cyclops to take the hatchling.

Flyzor thrashed around and let out cries as he reached for Soundwave. The masked mech played a spliced recording to soothe him. “Go. Shockwave. Earth is no place for a youngling.”

The hatchling whimpered as he was being carried through a ground bridge. He looked over Shockwave’s massive shoulder to look at the only mech he had been with since his hatching. The bridge closed once they made it through. Shockwave walked over to a large table that was the only thing in the entire room that wasn’t covered in energon, spare parts, datapads, or tools. The scientist sat Flyzor on the table before pressing a button on the table. Four walls of purple light shot up to tower the hatchling that as hissing and growling at the mech.

“Subject is more aggressive than the other Insecticons that I have studied pre-war. Could be due to previous company or lack of socialization from others of its kind.” Shockwave walked around the table as he got updated readings of Flyzor’s health. “Subject’s status is within the correct parameters to begin testing.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fritillary and Bombshell fight for what is right for the Hive. Inferno hates baths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another wonderful piece from my friend Doc: https://www.instagram.com/ninjakirkki/

  
  
Chapter 12

Fritillary looked at the hatchlings that were curled up together in the nest recharging while the guardians refueled. She looked behind her when she heard the buzzing sound wings behind her. “Oh, Kickback, any news on the others?” She hurriedly stood as she took large steps towards the grasshopper. The solemn expression on his face and through the bond told her everything she needed to know. “No, they can’t be… Kickback, please tell me they weren’t killed.”

“Scouts found broken-ken eggs, dried eggs-eggs, gray hatchlings.” The grasshopper bowed his helm in sorrow for the loss to their hive. He hugged the femme tightly as the pain started spreading throughout the hive.

The femme pulled away as she slowly started pulling herself together to help her regain control of the hive. She looked at the hatchlings and then the guardians that were all staring at her silently. “The nest has been compromised, and we do not know when the humans will return if they do.”

“Are you suggesting we move?” Mothball stood on top of the pile of scraps that he had been eating. “My queen, that is dangerous, especially for the hatchlings.”

“We will not move now; scouts will go and find a new place to relocate. I will not do something to risk any of the hatchlings, but staying here is no longer an option.” Fritillary looked over at their hatchlings as a couple of them started twitching in their recharge. “Kickback, send out some drones to find any Energon we may have missed.”

Kickback started swaying to the sides with growing anticipation, “and the outsiders-siders?”

The femme didn’t want to resort to such drastic measures, since she was trying to stay on good terms with both sides. But now it was a matter of the good for her entire race. Instinctively her servo went to the crystal on her chest. So many memories of working alongside her friends, but the outsiders have once again betrayed her trust. “If any of them are seen near the nest, chase them off. They are no longer welcomed into our home.”

Fritillary folded her wings back as she walked for the main chamber where many of her hive had been working on expanding for their Queen, but they stopped all movement once she was seen. She sat on her throne with some Insecticons crawling over to comfort her. Scorponok transformed and offered her some Energon. She smiled as she took it from him. “Thank you.”

“What about the hatchlings with the outsider?” The scorpion tilted his helm slightly as he lowered to his knees.

“They will remain with them. I do not want any more attention drawn to the hive.” Fritillary sipped on the Energon before quickly rising to her peds. Bombshell entered the room with splatters of a red substance up his limbs and his chest. “Bombshell, what happened!?”

The mech looked down at himself with an unphased expression. The younger Insecticons went over to the older mech, sniffing him with some of them instantly scurrying back with hisses. “Organics-ics. Danger to hive-hive.”

“You killed organics? Bombshell, we are trying to keep any further attention away from us! Now Orion will come to ask questions!” Fritillary rose her voice as she gestured at the blood covering her protector.

“Now you care-are about protecting hive-hive? You allowed outsiders in-in. One of them told organics-ics, and they killed-illed our hatchlings.” Bombshell hissed at his Queen, never once in his life had he done this, and he had already felt awful about it. The others circled around them and were getting belligerent.

Fritillary flared her wings as she turned to hiss at the others behind her. She got in the beetle’s face, “do you think I meant to endanger the hive? I wanted to show them that we were not monsters, that we can be just as civilized as them. I did not ask for my hatchlings to be killed!”

“You only think of friends-ends, no longer care about the hive.” And Bombshell was answered with a vicious backhand. Everyone in the nest stopped moving as the hostility slowly drained away from the two arguing.

Fritillary stepped back with a small gasp for what she just did. She had never once gotten so angry at anyone in her hive that she would get physical with them. “Bo- I… I am so sorry.” She hesitantly touched the scuff before covering her mouth. “I do… I don’t know why I did that.”

Bombshell rubbed his cheek plate before grabbing her servo to examine it. “You scratched your servo-servo. Could have hurt-urt self.” He brought it to his mouthguard as if he were giving it a kiss. “Are you okay-okay?”

“Am I ok-? I smacked you! Aren’t you the least bit mad?” Fritillary frowned at her protector’s lack of reaction.

“I stepped out of line-line. You wanted to protect-ect hive, should not be-be mad at you.” Bombshell rubbed his face one more time before shaking his helm. “You are not a-a cruel Queen-en. All is forgiven-given.”

Fritillary smiled and gave the beetle a peck on the cheek plate. Seeing their Queen forgive the mech triggered the rest of the hive to calm down instantaneously. Bombshell thrilled softly as he rubbed his helm against the femme’s frame. Knowing that her protector was this upset about her decisions with the outsiders, she knew that the others in the hive must have felt the same. And this new information was all the information she needed to know that turning her back on Orion and the others was the right idea. “From this moment on,” she stepped away from the beetle to look at the Insecticons around her. “From this moment on, we will protect our own! We didn’t need the outsiders at the dawn of Cybertron, we didn’t need them when the outsiders rose up, and we do not need them now!”

A large group of Insecticons hissed and shrilled. Fritillary grabbed the stone from her chest, holding it above her helm to get her hive’s attention. “If the outsiders wish to treat us like monsters, then we will show them what Insecticons can really do.” More roared as they transformed to slam their horns or peds against the ground.

Bombshell and a drone both shrilled before banging their helms together. Fritillary looked at the pink stone in her servo before slowly releasing it from her hold. The gem bounced on the cave floor in front of the femme. She watched the gem twinkle from the light above her. Fritillary didn’t know if she could destroy something that held so many fond memories, but it was those memories that were holding her back from doing the very thing she was brought to this world to do. Without any more hesitation, the Insecticon femme crushed the crystal under her ped.

It was nearly five days after Fritillary had announced their time to leave their hive. The scouts had been gone for only three of those days, coming back with good news, and here they were. The drones had moved fast, gathering what Energon they could carry along with materials to reinforce the hive. The egg guardians each had their assigned hatchling, making sure they were holding onto their frames tightly. The warriors made sure to cover the vital members of their hive during the move. Fritillary wanted to move at night because there would be fewer humans around, and the hatchlings would be endangered of burning.

“Everyone ready?” Fritillary looked at her protectors as she gently took hold of one of the surviving warrior class hatchlings. The hatchling looked a lot like Waspinator because the colors were almost identical and looked to have similar flying frames. “When we arrive at our new home, then we will be able to give you suitable names.” She lifted the hatchling to her face, rubbing their cheek plates together with a happy chitters coming from the Mechling. The other hatchlings all squeaked and desperately reached for the Queen. Fritillary laughed softly as she allowed the guardians to set their hatchlings on her frame. “You are all so strong, and one cycle, you will make great Insecticons.”

The Insecticon hatchlings all chittered with excitements. Their tiny digits clawed up her frame as they tried to climb over each other to nuzzle her face. Waspinator started pulling the hatchlings of the femme’s frame. The hatchlings all squeaked and started crying when they were taken away from Fritillary. The guardians comforted the smaller frames. “No more crying.” Ripsaw gently nipped at the hatchling in his arms.

“Hatchlingsss are ready for flight,” Tri-Gon moved the hatchling pod bearer to his back.

“Good, we only have to wait for a groon before nightfall.” Fritillary turned to face Shrapnel and Hardshell. “Go ahead with a few of the scouts and drones to the new site. We will need a head start of the creation of our nest.”

The two bowed their helms before a herd of Insecticons transformed and flew out of the nest. The Queen looked at all of the Insecticons she either grew up in or brought under her care; she could not believe that it had been nearly one orbital cycle of their new home, and now they were once again moving their hive to protect them. Fritillary looked up at the cave ceiling before releasing a deep ex-vent, and a smile formed on her lips. She felt that this was the right decision, and getting away from the war would ensure her hive’s success, her family.

The light coming from the moon triggered the Insecticons to start online slowly. It was quiet outside in the outskirts of Jasper until the ground began rumbling. Nearly a hundred of Insecticons shot up into the dark sky like a raging of well Insecticons. At the head of the hive was Fritillary, with her plating’s green biolights glowing brightly like a beacon for her Insecticons. The biolights acted as a physical indicator of her location, but she could lead even the blind with her scent. Fritillary made sure that everyone was doing okay during their travel, whether checking the bond or flying to each of them. Sometimes the hatchlings would stir up trouble to get their Queen to hold them. The flying had inspired names for the hatchlings, especially the one that reminded Fritillary of Waspinator.

“Buzz,” the hatchling chirped and looked at the femme with confusion. She gently scratched his cheek plate as she repeated herself. “Buzz.”

This time the hatchling chittered and squeaked at the word. The hatchling clearly had taken a liking to the name that Fritillary had given him. She kissed his helm, getting a happy purr from the excited Insecticon in her arms. Seeing one of their clutch mate being given a name excited the rest, getting a hushed chuckle from the femme. “Okay, okay, we will give you all names.”

So, throughout half the flight, Fritillary took each of her creations and spent time with them to develop a good name for them. Names were very special to the Insecticons, some were named right after hatching, and some didn’t get one until their first molt. The femme came to a sudden stop. She sniffed the air subtly before deep growls came behind her. There was the smell of an egg and, still recovering from the loss of the many hatchlings she had, Fritillary foolishly dove down for the scent.

She didn’t listen to the calls of her hive as she landed in the middle of a field. The nearby livestock was startled awake, taking off at the sight of Fritillary. Further in the field was a piece of metal that stuck out of the ground. Some of the warriors stalked closer with Arachne and Kickback leading. There was chittering coming from the mechs behind her. The Insecticon warriors pulled out the metal that kept growing and growing until the metal grew into a large metal casing that surrounded the same thick mucus that the drones produced for building and securing.

Inside the mucous was a rather large Insecticon mech that looked to be in stasis, but the peculiar thing about him was the red egg with a yellow ring at the top. Fritillary had never seen anything like this; though if Arachne’s previous hive had been active before the Queen finally perished, then she couldn’t see why this couldn’t have happened.

“Are they-” Fritillary turned to face Buzzclaw with concern as the warrior. The Queen drew closer to the warriors, seeing the bold black stripes around his midsection as well as his thigh plating told the femme that he was very close to Buzz’s color scheme. This mech also looked like Waspinator in frame build, so it only made sense that their alt modes would be very similar.

“Online.” One of the egg guardians started prodding the casing, gently puncturing it with his pincers. “Sac still warm, egg healthy. Does not smell like a familiar hive.”

“We bring them with us,” Fritillary could see that her protectors were about to argue, but spoke faster, “I do not want the outsiders or the organics finding them and killing them.” Some of the larger Insecticons grabbed the unconscious Insecticon after the egg was taken away by one of the guardians. A sound in the distance put the hive in defensive mode. Fritillary flared her wings and shot up in the air, making escape her obvious course of action. The others followed her lead, and just like that, they were back on track to their new nest.

“Inferno, what has gotten into you?” Ratchet had noticed a growing change in the hatchling’s behavior. The medic was trying to lure red Mechling out from behind the stacked crates in the base’s corner. “Is it because I said bath?”

At the word, Inferno hissed, and his helm fins started buzzing as he flared his plating. Ratchet gave an exasperated laugh before sitting down in front of the only visible exit. He remembered the first time he had given Inferno a bath, and he also discovered how much of a drama queen the Mechling was because of it. “You rolled in organic material outside, you stink, Inferno. Come on, the faster we clean you, the faster we can get to fixing.”

The little Insecticon chittered as if he was actually contemplating on his choices. The sound of the ground bridge opening up excited Inferno. He crawled out quickly, hoping he was fast enough to greet whoever returned to the nest before his guardian got him. But alas, as soon as he was within reaching distance, Ratchet swiped him off the ground. Inferno flailed around as he cried and clawed at the air. “Primus, who hit a skunk this time?” Bulkhead waved a servo over his face while Miko covered her face with a gagging sound.

“Inferno decided that roadkill was a suitable toy during our walk in the forest.” Ratchet knew holding the Insecticon a foot away from his frame was going to cause injuries, but he also didn’t want to smell.

“Yeah, well, he smells.” Miko hid behind her partner’s leg as if it would block the smell.

Ratchet rolled his optics, “thank you as always for pointing out the obvious. Come on, Inferno, the bath is calling for you.”

Inferno stopped his flailing in a huff, and a scowl was forming on his face. Bulkhead laughed at the Ratchet mini-me. Ratchet and Inferno went to an empty room where a large barrel sat with water filled to the top. It was originally a storage room, but thanks to the previous bath incident and exposed wiring causing a base-wide power outage, Ratchet decided this was a better alternative. The medic lowered the red Mechling in the water before pouring a small servoful of water over his helm. Inferno instinctively ducked his helm to shield his optics. The hatchling splashed in the water with his servo transforming into the nozzle, and the pressured water that was shot from it caused bubbles to form. The red Mechling laughed at the sight before looking up at Ratchet for his reaction.

“See baths aren’t bad? I’m going to get the cleaner now, so don’t move understand?” Ratchet had scolded himself when he had realized that the bottle of cleaner was out of reach, but he had assumed that he could trust Inferno to just stay. The medic turned his back to get the bottle on the table, that was only a step away from the barrel, he felt drips of water on the top of his helm. “What the-? How is it raining-” Ratchet turned around to see Inferno shooting water up at the ceiling with giggles. “Inferno! No!”

He returned to the Mechling’s side and pointed a firm digit in his face. Inferno knew that tone, which meant he did something bad. His helm fins dipped slightly as he whimpered sadly. The nozzle was replaced with his servo, and he chittered sadly. The medic sighed with a shake of his helm. He gave the smaller helm a comforting pat, “it’s okay, Inferno. You were just playing.”

Throughout the rest of the bath, Ratchet was worried he was too hard on the Mechling because he was quiet and allowed the medic to clean him off without a fight. Once Inferno no longer smelt like a dead animal, Ratchet lifted him out of the water and used a cleaning cloth to dry the Insecticon off. When bath time was officially over, Ratchet lifted Inferno in his arms, and Inferno quickly crawled over the medic’s shoulder to cling to his back. “Inferno, I’m not mad, I just didn’t want you to get hurt. Do you understand?” There was no response, and Ratchet shook his helm with a frustrated chuckle. “Of course, you don’t, you’re still so young.”

Just as they left the room, Inferno peeked his helm over Ratchet’s shoulder and nuzzled his cheek plate. “Ch-Ch.” To anyone, what just came out of the hatchling’s mouth would have just been cataloged as an Insecticon sound, but Ratchet wasn’t just anyone.

He stopped in the hallway and turned to get a good look at the staring hatchling. “What did you just say?” Inferno chirped and tilted his helm in confusion, but he nuzzled Ratchet again with a purr.

“Ch-Ch.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fritillary and her Hive get started on their new nest, Flyzor makes a new friend, and Inferno meets his first scraplet.

[My Domain- Tommee Profitt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7eby0Rro2Q&list=RDU9vC03vBzrw&index=22)

* * *

Chapter 13

Fritillary flew quickly under one of the hatchlings and lifted him back up. “Almost little warrior. Keep trying.” The femme enjoyed teaching the hatchlings to fly, though this planet had a lot more unpredictable weather patterns than Cybertron did. They had been non-stop flying since they had left their old nest. The older Insecticons were capable of going long stretches without needing much recharge, and when the hatchlings got tired, they would just lay on one of the more senior members.

The Insecticons slowed down when they saw a large island came into view, and Fritillary was met with one of the scouts greeting them with excited chitters. He nuzzled his face against her face. “New nest is nearly ready. Ready for Hive to live in.”

“Fantastic! And the energon reserves?” Fritillary looked over at the hatchlings with a brief concerning look because she knew that they would be hungry soon. She felt the pride and confidence of the scout in front of her.

“New territory has lots of fuel sources. Miles away from squishy humans and war.” He buzzed with excitement that was rewarded with Fritillary nuzzling his face with a purr.

The femme nodded and followed the scout to their new supposed nest, with the rest of the hive following close behind. As they were brought closer to the island, Fritillary could detect her hive members' faint scent was scattered around the island, but as they got closer to a large mountain that was a mixture of earth and metal. The Insecticons all landed before the Insecticons that were tasked with preparing the nest. When the hive members were reunited with their Queen, they buzzed with excitement as they rubbed up against her. Fritillary laughed lightly as she returned the affection with gentle pets or nuzzling their helms.

“Yes, yes I am here. You all have done a good job preparing the nest. This is plenty of space for all of the hatchlings we’ll have.” She grabbed ahold of one of the scout’s horns with her usual playful shake. The scout was bouncing in place while his wings were flicking rapidly. “Waspinator, Ripsaw, you all take the hatchlings to the new chamber? I imagine it’s time to explore the nest?”

The Insecticons retreated into the top entrance and into the larger massive tunnel with several paths that split off with groups quickly exploring them. Fritillary was guided, though it was more like politely pushed to the hive center by Bombshell. The hive wanted to keep their Queen safely hidden until they could ensure no danger could be found near them and start getting their new home to smell like her.

“Queen safe-safe. Approve new nest-est?” Shrapnel asked while some drones were quickly building their Queen a nest worthy of her to recharge in. Scorponok and Hardshell entered their Queen’s new chambers.

“It is perfect!” Fritillary clapped her servos with a smile as her wings transformed. The femme could feel pride swelling from all corners of the bond at her confirmation. She would miss the light, but for the good of her hive, it would be worth the sacrifice. Kickback could easily read his Queen because he wasn’t blind to the fact that her alt mode caused her to desire the skies and be free from the restraints of the ground, but there wasn’t much in the way of aerial nest materials, so they were limited.

He would talk to Arachne about it once everyone was settled in and rested after all their traveling. Fritillary quickly turned around to face her protectors when she remembered the two that they brought with them on their journey. “Has the mech onlined yet? The one we found in the field?”

“Not yet-yet.” The grasshopper was having to bounce around to avoid getting in the drones' way as they brought in materials from the island. The femme watched the pod bearers start digging out holes for them to burrow in. “Expand hive-hive?”

Fritillary laughed into her servo with a small shake of her helm, “not now. We must gather fuel for what hive we have. Once everyone has rested, will you be fit to look for fuel?”

Kickback bounced with excited chitters, “will gather scouts-outs now. Fuel for Queen-Queen.” The grasshopper was quick to bound off to go harass — politely ask some scouts and drones to help grow their fuel source.

Some drones skittered over to Fritillary with small nibbles to her peds, getting her attention. She looked down with a brief look of curiosity at what was touching her, but a smile formed when she saw the smaller beetles looking up at her with their mandibles nervously clicking. The femme lowered to their level with gentle pets on their helms. One of the drones delicately took her servo in his mandible. He pulled her in the direction they had all been diligently working on. Along the furthest wall of this cavern was a large rock slab covered in the green goop with plants and webbing covered the top of it. It looked almost identical to the one in their old nest. The drones looked up at their Queen with eager chitters.

“Oh, you all did an amazing job.” Fritillary walked over and placed her servo on it before looking at them with a smile. “May I?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” They chanted with excited bounces as they watched the femme gracefully sit down with Bombshell and Shrapnel joining her. The pod bearers lumbered out from the side tunnel with their sides of the bond pleased with their new accommodations. Fritillary scooted further onto the slab before gesturing for the other mechs to join them. Everyone in the large cavern climbed on to cuddle her. “Soft? Soft? Soft?”

Fritillary touched each of their helms with a tired smile, “very.”

\- - -

“Subject is taking to the power fueling at a better rate than previously hypothesized. The subject appears to be showing signs of discomfort and has stopped fueling three solar cycles ago. It looks to be going through a transformation from the amount of time it is currently spending on the ceiling of its pen.” Shockwave walked around the enclosure he had been keeping Flyzor in since he took him off Soundwave’s servos. He had been leaving energon and other things to fuel, sometimes even forcing him to fuel four times a day. Shockwave didn’t want the task of wait for the hatchling to naturally grow into his adult stage, so the only solution he could think of was power feeding.

Flyzor swayed back and forth as he hung upside down. He stilled as his frame started to harden up, and he was becoming sluggish. Shockwave quietly watched as the transformation seams along the Insecticon’s back started to split open. The scientist noted that Flyzor didn’t panic about what was happening, hypothesizing that it could have been deeply hidden coding keeping him calm.

“Subject looks to be pulling itself out of its armor. How many layers of armor do Insecticons have?” Shockwave watched the hatchling push himself upwards until he was nearly halfway out of his old armor before stopping. “Shedding old armor drains Insecticons of what energy they have and take longer than expected.”

It was nearly midday by the time Shockwave saw Flyzor pull himself out. He was larger than he was before, but still not large enough to be considered fully grown. Shockwave took note of that, coming up with a makeshift life cycle of the Insecticons. He also noticed that the hatchling now had a pair of wings that looked awfully like the femme, who was now in control of the largest living Insecticon hive.

“I must study her,” Shockwave walked closer to the cage and watched Flyzor drop onto the cage floor, his wings shaking off the goo that had helped him slide out of his old frame. “I must inform Megatron of my progress. Remain here.”

The cyclops left the now slightly older fledgling. Flyzor was glad that Shockwave was gone, he didn’t like him at all, but the only one he had trusted left him. He also wanted his hive, but they had given him away, and now he was all alone.

His coding had told him that it was normal and to not get upset, but if they had known what he was put through, they wouldn’t have given him away. Flyzor couldn’t leave his cage even if he could; Shockwave had put a sensor on the bottom edges of the cell that would shock the fledgling. The Insecticon learned to just stay in the middle of the pen until the awful mech came back to hurt him. When he was all curled up, his face tucked into his thin thorax, a distant screeching sound caused him to sit up quickly. Flyzor’s wings buzzed rapidly as he clicked his mandibles in confusion.

“H-Hello?” The Insecticon rose onto shaky legs as he felt a pull to the screeching until he instinctively stopped when he got close to the invisible line. He stretched his neck to try and get a clear view of whatever was making that sound. “H-Hello? I bite!”

The door to the lab slid open, and Shockwave walked in with a large red and yellow beast following him. Flyzor shrank with fear when the source of his pain came straight for him and pulled him out of his cage. He carried Flyzor by loose plating near his neck and dropped him in front of the large creature. “You are in charge of this creature’s life, do not let him perish.”

The beast huffed hot air at Shockwave before lowering his face to Flyzor to get a closer look at him. They locked optics, and the large creature layed beside him to show Shockwave that he would remain with the fledgling. Shockwave nodded at the sight before leaving his lab once again. Flyzor was quick to run for the cage, his only safe haven, before the creature’s large tail slammed in front of him. The Insecticon yelped and ran in another direction before the tail continued to stop him. When Flyzor went to go for the air, his wings just lifted him into the air before the scary mechanism grabbed his long body with its mouth and brought him closer. “Don’t eat me, please! I want to go back to my hive!”

The beast transformed with Flyzor in his servo, “I will not eat you, fledgling. Why are you not in your nest? Insecticons are usually protective creatures.”

“M-My hive gave m-me away. W-What are you? You’re not like Shockwave, and you’re not like me. Do you have a name?” Flyzor was lowered down, and he quickly transformed with all of his tiny arms awkwardly tapping against each other.

“I am a Predacon, the last of my kind. You may call me Predaking, and what am I to call you?” The Predacon knelt with his taloned digits poking Flyzor, having not seen an Insecticon in a very long time.

Flyzor chittered and twitched under the touch of this so called Predacon. “Flyzor, that’s the name my guardian gave me b-before he had to give me to Shockwave.” His wings buzzed, and he backed away with scared filled chitters. Predaking was quick to transform just before Shockwave returned with a large crate of scrap and energon. Flyzor knew precisely what would happen next, and he tried to use Predaking as a shield. Shockwave grabbed Flyzor and practically dropped him in the large crate. “You will finish this; Lord Megatron wishes for your next molt to be triggered.”

The Predacon watches the Insecticon lower his helm into submission and start eating a piece of scrap metal. Shockwave said nothing as he went over to his terminal to begin his next project. Flyzor silently nibbled as he kept his helm down. He risked a glance up at Shockwave with a nervous flick of his wings. “I do not hear the sounds of you fueling.”

The Insecticon squeaked and dug his way into the large pile to hide from the scientist’s menacing gaze. Predaking watched in confusion at the treatment that the fledgling was unusual. He didn’t see Flyzor pop up again until a third of the scrap and energon was gone. The fledgling groaned as he flopped on top of the pile. Predaking noted that the Insecticon did not look good. Shockwave went over to the smaller mech and carried him to his cage, locking him up before leaving his two science experiments in his lab.

Predaking walked over to Flyzor as he watched him struggle to roll over. He transformed with a small frown forming on his face. “Are you unwell?”

“No,” Flyzor tried to curl up on himself, but moving in his current state hurt. The fledgling whimpered as his body was trying to absorb all of the fuel. “I want a hive.”

\- - -

Inferno was following Jack around the base while chirping curiously. “Jack-Jack doing?”

“Oh, I’m just getting ready my ride with Arcee.” Jack grabbed his jacket and hurried over to Arcee. He put his helmet on and saw the sad look on the Insecticon’s face, “don’t worry Inferno, I’ll be back this weekend.”

Inferno plopped in the middle of floor with sad chitters, “bye-bye Jack-Jack.” Jack waved to him before Arcee whipped around sped out of the tunnel. Inferno’s helm fins fluttered sadly. His sadness was quickly replaced with happiness when he saw Ratchet walk in with their new hive member, Ultra Magnus. “T-T! Play?”

“Not right now Inferno, I have to look for energon.” Ratchet gently pressed his servo on top of Inferno’s helm as they walked by the pouting Insecticon.

“’Ferno help?” Inferno pushed himself onto his peds and waddled after his guardian. “T-T, ‘Ferno help?”

The medic sighed at how consistent the Insecticon was, “fine you little scraplet, you can help. By sitting here and watching.” Ratchet lifted Inferno into his arms and started the scan for energon.

“How much longer until he gets bigger?” Ultra Magnus questioned as he watched Inferno chew on his servos.

“Whenever he decides to; there is no need to rush this thing.” Ratchet scratched the Insecticon’s neck while continuing to focus on his current task. The sound of Miko’s notable laughter and the familiar sound of the two wreckers got Inferno all excited as he started jumping in the medic’s arms. “In-ferno, stop jumping. Give me a second to set you down. There.” He watched Inferno try to run for the two mechs and the human. Ratchet was glad that Inferno had grown to enjoy everyone else, and spoke decently well.

“Jackie, play?” Inferno jumped in front of the wrecker with excited chitters. The hatchling liked all of his hive, but Wheeljack, Bumblebee, Raf, and of course Ratchet were his favorites. Arcee still didn’t like being alone with Inferno, but she could handle having somewhat of a conversation with him as long as he kept his claws in and his Insecticon sounds to a minimum.

Wheeljack shook his helm with an amused laugh, “sorry little chomper, but Bulkhead and I have to go back out as soon as ol’ Ratchet finds energon. Maybe Miko and Raf will play with you?”

“But Miko and Raf small.” Inferno whined loudly, drawing the attention of his guardian.

Ratchet whipped his helm around to see what was wrong with his charge, “Inferno what are you getting into?”

“Play!” The hatchling huffed as his helm fins flicked rapidly to create an angry buzzing sound. “Play now!”

 _Raf and I can watch him!_ Bumblebee was quick to offer himself up as a babysitter. Inferno shrilled as he bounced excitedly. _Out in the forest?_

“Forest? Oh, no, no, no I will not have Inferno out in the forest. He can be entertained here in the base.” Ratchet put his ped on that decision despite seeing the small blue optics light up at the mention of going outside. The medic looked at his charge and saw the desire to explore outside the base, and a sigh escaped him. “You keep all of you safe. I am not afraid to put you on cleaning duty if you so much as get a scratch on him.”

 _Got it._ Bumblebee lifted Raf and Inferno into his hold before going through the ground bridge that Ratchet opened for them. Once they made it outside, Bumblebee sat the human and Insecticon down. _Stay close Inferno._

Inferno chittered as he started sniffing everything in his path. He picked up things and would ask Raf what everything was, and the human would answer with amusement. Inferno stopped when a faint smell hit his olfactory sensor, and went over to where the scent was coming from. The Insecticon went through a thick cluster of bushes while Raf and Bumblebee were distracted by a bird. Inferno started growling when a strange smell hit him. He growled and was getting ready to attack whatever was out there. There was a chittering sound and hearing it caused Inferno to act on instinct.

“Inferno?!” Raf called out for the hatchling. Bumblebee and Raf followed the obvious trail the hatchling made just as a certain pest came crawling out from behind the foliage came skittering out. “Sc-sc-scraplet!”

Bumblebee jumped back for a split second before remembering that Inferno had never seen a scraplet. _Inferno come-_. He came to a stuttering stop when Inferno and the scraplet were getting in a small tumbling match. The scout was trying to go in to grab for the hatchling, but the scraplet would try to make chow out of the scout. _Scrap, Ratchet is never going to let me near you._

Inferno and the scraplet continued to roll around until he grabbed ahold of the pest by its body in his mouth. He growled as he managed to pin the scraplet down, and grabbed it by its body. Bumblebee covered his and Raf's faces when Inferno started shaking the screaming scraplet around.

 _Ratchet, I need your help. It’s Inferno._ Bumblebee commed the medic while trying to kick the clearly dead scraplet away from Inferno. _Inferno put it down. It’s dead._

Inferno growled with the scraplet hanging from him mouth. Ratchet was quick to come through a ground bridge. “Where is he? Where’s In-" he looked in the direction that Raf and Bumblebee were pointing, and he looked in shock. “Inferno, put that scraplet down this instant.”

The hatchling’s helm fins flicked in recognition of his guardian, and he looked up with a smile forming around the thing in his mouth. He stood up and dropped it into Ratchet’s waiting servo with a proud smile. “’Ferno save Bee-Bee. Proud?”

“I- Inferno, you could have gotten seriously hurt. Why did you think it was okay to attack a scraplet? You should have told Bumblebee.” Ratchet had one servo on his hip and he was scolding him with the scraplet waving in front of him. “Do you understand the kind of danger you could have been?”

Inferno frowned and looked down in shame. “Sorry.”

“Now come on, we need to get you fixed and cleaned up. Now more going outside.” Ratchet picked up the mechling before following the others back inside.

Inferno quietly in a little corner that he claimed as his own. He didn’t mean to upset Ratchet or get Bumblebee in trouble, he was doing what felt right. “Hey,” Inferno looked down to see Raf smiling up at him. The red mech hid his face in his legs with a whimper. “I know you didn’t mean it. Bee isn’t mad at you, he was worried about you.”

“Bee-Bee not mad?” Inferno peeked over his arm to see the human shake his head. “Raf not mad?” Again with a shake of the head.

“T-T mad at ‘Ferno.” Inferno looked away as he started crying.

Raf put a hand on Inferno’s ped to get him to look at him. “No, Ratchet isn’t mad at you either. I promise, he was really worried about you.”

“Promise?” Inferno lowered his legs as Raf smiled with a nod.

“Inferno!” Ratchet called for the hatchling as he got his energon ready. Inferno pushed himself onto his peds and eagerly went for his guardian with his helm fins fluttering. “Manners.”

“T-T please.” Inferno stood on his ped tips with his arms stretched out.

Ratchet smiled in approval before handing the cube to him. Inferno sat down and started gulping down the energon, and Ratchet was quick to snatch the empty cube before Inferno could eat it like last time. “No, remember we don’t eat the cubes. We have to reuse them.”

“No eat cubes, reuse.” Inferno pushed himself onto his peds once more before he started feeling uncomfortable. He started scratching his arm, then it started to slowly spread to his sides. “T-T.”

Ratchet’s first thought instantly went to rust, because it was moments like this when he forgot that Inferno was half Insecticon. “No sign of rust. Hm, come on Inferno let’s get you scanned.” Ratchet went to pick up Inferno when he noticed his optics were a darker color. “Inferno, can you tell me why you’re itchy?”

“Squeezing.” Inferno whimpered as he started getting more fidgety. “T-T, scared.”

Ratchet picked up the mechling and carried him to the medbay. He started scanning him with worry, blocking out everyone else as he focused on Inferno. He plugged into him and he looked through the thousands of files before finding one, looking in it.

_Molting cycle: ACTIVE_

“Scrap.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'll let you guys decide if ya'll wanna keep reading! :) I do have several pieces of artwork for Fritillary as well as for future chapters, but I have zero clue as to how I can post them here on ao3. I do have them on my page on amino (where I have more ROTQ chapters), so if you wish to see them then be sure to go here to check them out oooooorrrr chat with me :) 
> 
> https://aminoapps.com/c/transformers/page/user/salty/Eb4V_1XH4fwWR30Qd3VYg7KP5gReKQRnQ6


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